Long-Term Quality of Life After Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Treated in the Intensive Care Unit.

Background: To examine the long-term health-related quality of life (HRQL) after pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) treated in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from four university hospital ICUs in Finland. Children aged < 18 years with TBI treated in the ICU during 2003 to 2013 were included.

A Solution to the Cerebral Perfusion Pressure Transducer Placement Conundrum in Neurointensive Care? The Dual Transducer.

Intracranial pressure is routinely monitored in most intensive care units caring for patients with severe neurological insults and, together with continuous arterial blood pressure measurement, allows for monitoring of cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP). CPP is the driving pressure of blood flow to the brain and is used to guide therapy. However, there is considerable inconsistency in the literature regarding how CPP is technically measured and, more specifically, the appropriate placement of the arterial pressure transducer.

One-year costs of intensive care in pediatric patients with traumatic brain injury.

Objective: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability in the pediatric population. The authors assessed 1-year costs of intensive care in pediatric TBI patients.

Methods: In this retrospective multicenter cohort study of four academic ICUs in Finland, the authors used the Finnish Intensive Care Consortium database to identify children aged 0-17 years treated for TBI in ICUs between 2003 and 2013.

Psychotropic Medication After Intensive Care Unit-Treated Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury.

Background: Our aim was to assess the occurrence and risk factors for psychotropic medication use after pediatric traumatic brain injury treated in the intensive care unit.

Methods: We combined data from the Finnish Intensive Care Consortium database, data on reimbursed medications from the Social Insurance Institute, and individual electronic health care data. We analyzed data on children aged five to 17 years treated for traumatic brain injury in intensive care units of four university hospitals in Finland during 2003 to 2013 and being alive six months after injury with no history of psychotropic medication use before traumatic brain injury.

Posttraumatic epilepsy in intensive care unit-treated pediatric traumatic brain injury patients.

Objective: Posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE) is a well-described complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The majority of the available data regarding PTE stem from the adult population. Our aim was to identify the clinical and radiological risk factors associated with PTE in a pediatric TBI population treated in an intensive care unit (ICU).

Validation of prognostic models in intensive care unit-treated pediatric traumatic brain injury patients.

Objective: There are few specific prognostic models specifically developed for the pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) population. In the present study, the authors tested the predictive performance of existing prognostic tools, originally developed for the adult TBI population, in pediatric TBI patients requiring stays in the ICU.

Methods: The authors used the Finnish Intensive Care Consortium database to identify pediatric patients (< 18 years of age) treated in 4 academic ICUs in Finland between 2003 and 2013.

Risk of hospitalization with neurodegenerative disease after moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury in the working-age population: A retrospective cohort study using the Finnish national health registries.

Background: Previous epidemiological studies suggest that working-aged persons with a history of moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) may have an increased risk for developing neurodegenerative disease (NDD) while persons with a history of mild TBI do not. In this comprehensive nationwide study in Finland, we assessed the risk of NDD and history of moderate-to-severe TBI in the working-age population.

Methods And Findings: We performed a population-based follow-up study using the Finnish Care Register for Health Care to identify all persons between the ages of 18 and 65 years hospitalized during 1987-2014 due to TBI who did not have a baseline NDD diagnosis.

Mortality in Elderly Patients Operated for an Acute Subdural Hematoma: A Surgical Case Series.

Background: Surgery for elderly patients with acute subdural hematomas (ASDH) is controversial, because postoperative mortality rates are reported to be high and long-term outcomes unknown. Thus, we aimed to describe midterm and long-term mortality rates of elderly patients operated for an ASDH.

Methods: We reviewed all consecutive ≥75-year-old patients operated on for an ASDH between 2009 and 2012.

Alcohol and mortality after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury: a meta-analysis of observational studies.

OBJECT Experimental studies have shown numerous neuroprotective properties of alcohol ("ethanol") after TBI, but clinical studies have provided conflicting results. The authors aimed to assess the relationship between positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC) on hospital admission and mortality after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHODS The authors searched 8 databases for observational studies reported between January 1, 1990, and October 7, 2013, and investigated the effect of BAC on mortality after moderate to severe TBI.