Mortality and Functional Outcome Predictors in Combat-Related Penetrating Brain Injury Treatment in a Specialty...

The combined use of new types of weapons and new types of personal protective equipment has led to changes in the occurrence, nature, and severity of penetrating brain wounds. The availability of modern equipment, methods of treatment, and trained medical personnel in a civilian hospital, as well as advanced specialty medical care, has improved treatment outcomes. There have been a limited number of publications regarding analysis and predictors of treatment outcomes in patients with combat-related penetrating brain injury in contemporary armed conflicts. The purpose of this study was to analyze the results of surgical treatment of patients with penetrating brain injury and to identify significant outcome predictors in these patients.

This was a prospective analysis of penetrating brain injury in patients who were admitted to Mechnikov Dnipropetrovsk Regional Clinical Hospital, Ukraine, from May 9, 2014, to December 31, 2017. All wounds were sustained during local armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine. The primary outcomes of interest were mortality rate at 1 month and Glasgow Outcome Scale score at 12 months after the injury.

In total, 184 patients were identified with combat-related brain injury; of those, 121 patients with penetrating brain injury were included in our study. All patients were male soldiers with a mean age of 34.1 years (standard deviation [SD], 9.1 years). Mean admission Glasgow Coma Scale score was 10 (SD, 4), and mean admission Injury Severity Score was 27.7 (SD, 7.6). Mortality within 1 month was 20.7%, and intracranial purulent-septic complications were diagnosed in 11.6% of the patients. Overall, 65.3% of the patients had favorable outcome (good recovery or moderate disability) based on Glasgow Outcome Scale score at 12 months after the injury. The following were predictors of mortality or poor functional outcome at 1 year after the injury: low Glasgow Coma Scale score on admission, gunshot wound to the head, dural venous sinuses wound, presence of intracerebral hematomas, intraventricular and subarachnoid hemorrhage accompanied by lateral or axial dislocation, and presence of intracranial purulent-septic complications.

Generally, combat-related penetrating brain injuries had satisfactory treatment outcomes. Treatment outcomes in this study were comparable to those previously reported by other authors in military populations and significantly better than outcomes of peacetime penetrating brain injury treatment.