Traumatic Brain Injury in Childhood. |
Myong Sun Ryu, Keon Su Lee |
1Department of Pediatrics, Daejon Sun General Hospital, Daejeon Korea. 2Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon Korea. ksulee@cnu.ac.kr |
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Abstract |
PURPOSE This study was undertaken to investigate the traumatic brain injury(TBI) in childhood and to identify factors related with its prognosis. METHODS: The medical records of 256 children with traumatic brain injury were analyzed retrospectively, who were treated in Chungnam National University Hospital for more than 6 years from January, 1998 to December, 2003. Outcomes were classified by age, sex, cause, Glasgow Coma Scale(GCS), Glasgow Outcome Scale(GOS), sequelae and so forth. RESULTS: A total of 256 patients were identified. The male to female ratio was 1.9:1. The main cause of TBI was traffic accidents(67.1%), followed by falls(25.8%). The outcomes of TBI were determined by GOS, in which death occurred in 16 cases(6.2%), severe disabilities in 11 cases(4.3%), moderate disabilities in 24 cases(9.4%), and good recoveries in 205 cases(80.1%). Poor prognostic factors were low GCS, post-traumatic early seizure, high blood glucose levels and abnormal pupil reflexes(P<0.05). The sequelae of TBI were quadriparesis(3.5%), learning disability(3%), mental retardation(2.3%), hemiparesis(1.6%) and others. CONCLUSION: This study suggest that it is possible to predict poor outcomes of TBI children by assessing the clinical manifestations. A long term follow-up of seizures and other sequelae is essential to TBI children who have poor prognosis. |
Key Words:
Traumatic brain injury, Seizures, Glasgow Coma Scale |
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