[The type of coma as prognostic indicator in severe cranial trauma in childhood].

Various methods are used by neurologists to evaluate posttraumatic brain damage. The most important and reliable are the length of posttraumatic amnesia and coma. In previous papers we have already described the value of the type of coma in the prognosis of serious head injury in childhood (Baracchini-Muratorio et al. 1985; Pruneti et al. 1985). In this study, 30 children (aged 6-12 years) with serious closed head injury and subsequent coma were evaluated. The children were divided into two groups according to the type of coma, using the Plum and Posner coma classification (1966) modified by Pagni et al. (1974). The children were followed up for at least two years (9 for five years) after the trauma by means of neurological, physical, EEG, CT scan and neuropsychological examinations. The neuropsychological test results confirm the hypothesis of a different evolution of sequelae in relation to the type of coma, independently of length of coma and site of brain damage.