Articles: brain-injuries.
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The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), an indicator of the severity of head injury, may help identify the head injured patients who will eventually undergo tracheotomy. Authors' present retrospective study reveals that the likelihood of tracheotomy is significantly greater in patients with a GCS rating < 7 than in those with a GCS rating > 7 (p < 0.01). In order to minimize complications and make tracheotomy patients feeling more comfortable and communicable, this study argues for early tracheotomy in patients with a GCS score < 7, but never before 72 hours after injury, because it is a time necessary for patient stabilization and elimination of any illicit drugs or alcohol used prior to head injury.
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Gunshot disturbances of different severeness were induced in rabbit brain by means of specifically worked out experimental model. Cerebral cortex was studied using light and electron microscopy in severe gunshot craniocerebral trauma (SGCT), accompanied with cranial bones and cerebral disorders, plentiful external and internal hemorrhages and death of the animals 1-5 minutes after the shot. Peculiarities of responsiveness to trauma were demonstrated in microcirculatory bed elements, neurons and glial cells. SGCT causes rapid appearance of destructive changes in cerebral cortex with degenerative processes not following hemomicrocirculatory bed disturbances, but developing simultaneously with them.