• Luis A Santiago, Bryan C Oh, Pramod K Dash, John B Holcomb, and Charles E Wade.
• Center for Translational Injury Research, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX, USA.
• Brain Inj. 2012 Jan 1; 26 (2): 107-25.

BackgroundTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of injury death and long-term disability in the USA. It commonly results from blunt (closed) or penetrating trauma. The majority of civilian TBI is caused by falls or motor vehicle collisions, whereas military TBI mainly results from explosions. Although penetrating injuries are less common than closed injuries in the civilian population, they are far more lethal. Unfortunately, the pathophysiologic differences between penetrating and closed TBI remain poorly understood due to the lack of studies on the subject. Many studies on the prognostic factors of mortality and functional outcome after TBI exclude penetrating brain injuries from their series because they are believed to have a different pathophysiology.Methods125 Articles regarding brain injury were reviewed and summarized for this report.ResultsDespite the absence of a clear delineation between penetrating and blunt TBI, the current guidelines for penetrating TBI suggest defaulting to management strategies used for closed TBI with limited supportive evidence. Thus, injuries that appear to have different pathophysiologies and outcomes are managed equally and perhaps not optimally.ConclusionIn view of the incomplete understanding of the impact of mechanism of injury on TBI outcomes, as demonstrated in the current review, new research studies are required to improve evidence-based TBI guidelines tailored especially for penetrating injuries.

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