[Changes in the serum cortisol and blood glucose level in cerebral injuries (author's transl)]

In our serial examinations we found, that that the starving blood glucose and cortisol levels showed a more pronounced increase in brain injuries with coma than in other serious injuries with different localisation and without loss of consciousness. Also a correlation was found between the changes of the cortisol and glucose levels and the state of consciousness: the deeper was the coma, the more elevated were these levels, with a greater divergence of the values. Four types were observed in the changes of these two values, according to the outcome of the injury, but in the first 2 weeks the mean values of these parameters always displayed a gradual evelation, according to the gravity of the disturbances of consciousness. From the endocrine point of view, the elevation of the blood glucose up to 200 mg% is caused by hypercortisolemia, while above 200 mg% other hormonal changes have to be assumed. Both in the changes of the blood glucose, and of the cortisol level certain statistically significant signs were found, which predicted the fatal outcome.