Predicting Outcomes in Patients with Diffuse Axonal Injury: External Validation of the Widely Used Prognostic Instruments.

Aim: Accurate prognosis of diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is important in directing clinical care, allocating resources appropriately, and communicating with families and surrogate decision-makers.

Methods: A study was conducted on patients with clinical DAI due to closed-head traumatic brain injury treated at a trauma center in Brazil from July 2013 to September 2015.  The objective efficacy of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Trauma and Injury Severity Scoring system (TRISS), New Trauma and Injury Severity Scoring system (NTRISS), Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS)/head, Corticosteroid Randomization After Significant Head Injury (CRASH), and International Mission on Prognosis and Analysis of Clinical Trials (IMPACT) models in the prediction of mortality at 14 days and 6-months and unfavorable outcomes at 6 months was tested.