Articles: brain-injuries.
-
Critical care medicine · Sep 2001
Reversible hypophosphatemia during moderate hypothermia therapy for brain-injured patients.
Because plasma potassium, which may similarly change as plasma phosphate (P), decreases during moderate hypothermia, plasma P, a requisite electrolyte for the cell function, may alter during therapeutic moderate hypothermia for brain-injured patients. In 22 such patients who underwent moderate hypothermia or were treated with normothermia, plasma concentrations of P and other chemicals were examined. ⋯ The results suggest that moderate hypothermia of 32-33 degrees C decreases plasma P levels. Further studies are required to examine whether P repletion may overcome certain hemodynamic derangements during moderate hypothermia in brain-injured patients.
-
On the basis of the contradiction between data on experimental head trauma showing oxidative stress-mediated cerebral tissue damage and failure of the majority of clinical trials using free radical scavenger drugs, we monitored the time-course changes of malondialdehyde (MDA, an index of cell lipid peroxidation), ascorbate, and dephosphorylated ATP catabolites in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of traumatic brain-injured patients. ⋯ On the whole, these data demonstrate the early onset of oxygen radical-mediated oxidative stress, proposing a valid explanation for the failure of clinical trials based on the administration of oxygen free radical scavenger drugs and suggesting a possible rationale for testing the efficacy of lipid peroxidation "chain breakers" in future clinical trials.
-
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Sep 2001
Intracerebral microdialysis and bedside biochemical analysis in patients with fatal traumatic brain lesions.
Microdialysis with bedside biochemical analysis was used to monitor cerebral biochemical alterations that precede and accompany increase in intracranial pressure (ICP), resulting in a complete cessation of cerebral blood flow. ⋯ Changes of cerebral energy metabolism that accompany cerebral ischaemia follow a certain pattern and may be detected at the bedside by intracerebral microdialysis before the secondary damage causes an increase in ICP.
-
The aim of this prospective study was to estimate annual incidences of hospitalization for severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) (maximum Abbreviated Injury Score in the head region [HAIS] 4 or 5) in a defined population of 2.8 million. ⋯ This study shows a decrease in severe TBI incidence when results are compared with another study conducted 10 years earlier in the same region. This is because of a decrease in traffic accidents. However, this results in an increase in the proportion of falls in elderly patients and an increase in the median age in our patients. This increased age influences the mortality rate.
-
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol · Sep 2001
Xenon-induced flow activation in patients with cerebral insult who undergo xenon-enhanced CT blood flow studies.
Stable xenon-enhanced CT ((s)Xe/CT) has gained wide acceptance in the assessment of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with intracranial abnormalities. The aim of this study was to test whether the contrast medium (ie, (s)Xe) itself directly induces relevant changes in rCBF, thereby distorting any valid determination of cerebral perfusion by using (s)Xe/CT. ⋯ The observed (s)Xe-induced rCBF activation, which showed significant inter- and intraindividual variability, might lead to overestimation of rCBF in patients with severe intracranial insult. The obtained flow activation curve provides essential information that may allow subsequent refinement of the methodology, aiming to further minimize the influence of (s)Xe-induced rCBF activation on rCBF calculations when using (s)Xe/CT technology.