Treatment of very severe brain injuries

To sum up the experience in treating very severe traumatic brain injuries.

Retrospective analysis of 68 patients with very severe traumatic brain injuries treated in our hospital from 1997 to 2002 was done.

Forty-one (60%) patients died. In the 50 patients treated surgically 27 (40%) survived, 8 recovered well, 9 had moderate disability and 10 had severe deficits. The 18 patients treated non-operatively all died.

Much attention should be given to the observation of the changes of severe brain injuries with cranial base injury. Timely operative decompression, basic life support, keeping effective brain blood perfusion and effective oxygen supply, improving cerebral microcirculation and preventing or controlling complications are the main methods to raise the successful rate of treating very severe brain injuries and the life quality of the patients.