Brain injury : [BI]
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Brain injury : [BI] · Jul 1999
ReviewCognitive and psychosocial outcome following moderate or severe traumatic brain injury.
The outcome of 96 consecutive adult patients with moderate to severe head injury was sequentially measured at 6, 12 and 24 months post-injury. In addition to global outcome using the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) and a battery of neuropsychological tests of cognitive function, the Head Injury Symptom Checklist (HISC) and Relative's Questionnaire (RQ) were used. Although poorer GOS scores and severe cognitive impairments were typically associated with greater severity of initial injury, relatives reported similar functional problems irrespective of injury severity. This illustrates the legacy of moderate head injury in influencing many aspects of everyday life, supporting the argument that the needs of this group should not be overlooked.
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Despite controversy surrounding the concept of mild head injury (MHI), it is becoming evident that even a head trauma termed 'mild' may result in significant behavioural sequelae. The present study was an attempt at documenting structural cerebral damage, by way of computerized tomography, in a group of patients having suffered a MHI as defined by the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score. A 1-year retrospective chart review identified 80 MHI patients who presented to the Emergency department of a lead hospital for trauma. ⋯ Evidence of intracranial abnormalities was obtained in 31% of the overall sample. Patients with a lower GCS score had a higher percentage of abnormal scans than those with a GCS score of either 14 or 15. The present findings suggest that a MHI can be associated with significant morbidity, and that a MHI group does not constitute a homogeneous pool of patients.