Articles: brain-injuries.
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Journal of neurotrauma · May 1992
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialSystemic hypothermia in treatment of brain injury.
An extensive literature suggests that there are minimal complications of systemic hypothermia in humans at and above 30 degrees C for periods of several days. Intracranial hemorrhage has been found to complicate profound hypothermia (10-15 degrees C), and ventricular arrhythmias occur at temperatures below 30 degrees C. Our initial clinical studies were with 21 patients undergoing elective craniotomy cooled to 30-32 degrees C for 1-8 h (mean 4 h). ⋯ No intracranial hemorrhage or other complications were found. With surface cooling, intravascular temperature dropped at 1.6 degrees C/h. Based on the safety of surface cooling to a core temperature of 32 degrees C for 48 h, we are conducting a randomized study of this level of hypothermia in patients with severe brain injury, cooled within 6 h of injury.
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Critical care medicine · May 1992
Use of brainstem auditory-evoked response testing to assess neurologic outcome following near drowning in children.
To determine a correlation between serial brainstem auditory-evoked response measurements and ultimate neurologic outcome in pediatric patients who suffered a cardiac arrest resulting from a submersion accident. ⋯ Brainstem auditory-evoked response testing is useful as an aid in the assessment of neurologic outcome following submersion-induced cardiac arrest. However, standardization of brainstem auditory-evoked response testing and production of normative data are required before this modality can be more widely studied and applied.
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Transorbital penetrating brain injury is rare during this time of peace. In our paper, we reported seven cases of these injuries and discussed the mechanism and treatment of intracranial complications. Transorbital penetrating brain injuries were caused by thin, long and relative hard objects such as chop-stick (case 3), pencil (case 6), bamboo stick (case 1, 2, 7) and a piece of metal (case 4, 5). ⋯ The one exception was a case in which a large intracerebral hematoma was over-looked in an ophthalmological clinic. This patient died. Nowadays, CT scan and MRI give clear information about the anatomical location of injuring objects and intracranial complications.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Surg Gynecol Obstet · Apr 1992
Traumatic brain injury attenuates the effectiveness of lactated Ringer's solution resuscitation of hemorrhagic shock in rats.
Traumatic brain injury suppresses spontaneous cardiovascular compensation for hemorrhage, prompting us to examine the possibility that trauma to the brain modifies hemodynamic response to therapy in hemorrhage. Thirty rats that were anesthetized were randomly assigned to four groups--hemorrhagic shock (H), hemorrhagic shock after brain trauma (TH), hemorrhagic shock treated with lactated Ringer's (LR) solution (HR), and hemorrhagic shock after brain trauma treated with LR (THR). After hemorrhage, group TH had significantly lower mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac index (CI) and stroke volume index (SVI) than group H. ⋯ Furthermore, neither brain trauma nor fluid replacement altered the content of water in the brain in hemorrhaged rats. These data indicate that brain trauma not only suppresses spontaneous hemodynamic recovery from hemorrhage, but also impedes the efficacy of LR resuscitation. The results of the current study suggested that a more aggressive fluid replacement may be needed to treat hemorrhagic shock in individuals with brain injury.
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Fever or pyrexia is a common clinical phenomenon. Among survivors of traumatic brain injury, it may appear immediately after injury, signal the presence of infection or reflect dysfunction of the thermoregulatory system. ⋯ Guidelines for decision making regarding the nursing management of patients with fever are presented. Given the potential benefit of fever, the ability of most patients to tolerate temperature elevations and the adverse effects, costs and discomforts associated with therapy, our habit of automatically reducing temperature should be examined.