Related Experiment Videos
[Diffuse traumatic cerebral injuries in children]
Insights
Severe pediatric head trauma with diffuse lesions shows that diffuse axonal injury has a favorable outcome, while diffuse cerebral swelling leads to high mortality due to intracranial hypertension.
Area of Science:
- Neurosurgery
- Pediatric Traumatology
- Neuroradiology
Background:
- Serious cranioencephalic trauma in children requires accurate prognostic indicators.
- Computed Tomography (CT) plays a crucial role in assessing the severity and predicting outcomes of pediatric head injuries.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the CT findings in pediatric patients with severe head trauma and prolonged coma.
- To correlate CT-based lesion classification with patient outcomes and mortality rates.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 41 pediatric patients (<16 years) with severe head trauma (Glasgow Coma Score ≤7, coma >24h).
- Classification of CT findings into three groups: diffuse axonal damage (Groups A & B) and diffuse cerebral swelling (Group C).
- Monitoring of intracranial pressure in approximately 50% of patients.
Main Results:
- Patients with diffuse axonal damage (Groups A & B) showed 0% mortality.
- Patients with diffuse cerebral swelling (Group C) had a 52% mortality rate, primarily due to refractory intracranial hypertension.
- Overall favorable outcome in over 68% of cases, with a total mortality of 26.8%.
Conclusions:
- CT imaging is vital for differentiating pediatric head trauma subtypes with distinct prognoses.
- Diffuse cerebral swelling in pediatric head trauma is associated with significantly higher mortality than diffuse axonal injury.
- Early identification of diffuse cerebral swelling is critical for managing intracranial hypertension and improving outcomes.
Abstract:
A consecutive series of 41 patients aged less than 16 and admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery of the University of Milan in the period 1977-1978 following serious cranioencephalic trauma with Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) less than or equal to 7, duration of coma longer than 24 h and CT picture of diffuse lesion has been examined. These patients account for 5% of the paediatric cranial traumas observed in the same period and 66% of those in a state of coma. The CT picture made it possible to split patients into 3 groups: a) those without visible cerebral lesions and with subarachnoid and cisternal spaces present; b) those with small hyperdense lesions due to intraparenchymal or median/paramedian subcortical shearing lesions; c) those with marked constriction or absence of the 3rd ventricle and of the perimesencephalic cisterns. The first two pictures (a, b) were considered to be the expression of diffuse axonal damage, the last (c) of diffuse cerebral swelling. Intracranial pressure was monitored in about 50% of patients. The overall outcome of the series was favourable in more than 68% of cases with total mortality of 26.8%. Analysis of individual tomographic categories, however, showed that whereas the group of patients with diffuse axonal lesion presented nil mortality, those with diffuse cerebral swelling had 52% mortality owing to the onset of refractory intracranial hypertension.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)