Catastrophic Non-Survivable Brain Injury Care-Role 2/3

Impact of catastrophic brain injury guidelines on organ donation rates: Results of an EAST multicenter trial

BACKGROUND

One third of organ donors suffer catastrophic brain injury (CBI). There are no standard guidelines for the management of traumatic CBI prior to brain death, and not all trauma centers have institutional CBI guidelines. In addition, there is high variability in management between institutions with guidelines. Catastrophic brain injury guidelines vary and may include various combinations of hormone therapy, vasopressors, fluid resuscitation, and other practices. We hypothesized that centers with CBI guidelines have higher organ donation rates than those without.

METHODS

This prospective, observational EAST-sponsored multicenter trial included adult (18+ years old) traumatic-mechanism CBI patients at 33 level I and II trauma centers from January 2022 to May 2023. Catastrophic brain injury was defined as a brain injury causing loss of function above the brain stem and subsequent death. Cluster analysis with linear mixed-effects model including UNOS regions and hospital size by bed count was used to determine whether CBI guidelines are associated with organ donation.

RESULTS

A total of 790 CBI patients were included in this analysis. In unadjusted comparison, CBI guideline centers had higher rates of organ donation and use of steroids, whole blood, and hormone therapy. In a linear mixed-effects model, CBI guidelines were not associated with organ donation. Registered organ donor status, steroid hormones, and vasopressin were associated with increased relative risk of donation.

CONCLUSION

There is high variability in management of CBI, even at centers with CBI guidelines in place. While the use of institutional CBI guidelines was not associated with increased organ donation, guidelines in this study were not identical. Hormone replacement with steroids and vasopressin was associated with increased donation. Hormone resuscitation is a common feature of CBI guidelines. Further analysis of individual practices that increase organ donation after CBI may allow for more effective guidelines and an overall increase in donation to decrease the long waiting periods for organ transplant recipients.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Prognostic; Level III.

Markers of Futile Resuscitation in Traumatic Hemorrhage: A Review of the Evidence and a Proposal for Futility Time-Outs during Massive Transfusion

The reduction in the blood supply following the 2019 coronavirus pandemic has been exacerbated by the increased use of balanced resuscitation with blood components including whole blood in urban trauma centers. This reduction of the blood supply has diminished the ability of blood banks to maintain a constant supply to meet the demands associated with periodic surges of urban trauma resuscitation. This scarcity has highlighted the need for increased vigilance through blood product stewardship, particularly among severely bleeding trauma patients (SBTPs). This stewardship can be enhanced by the identification of reliable clinical and laboratory parameters which accurately indicate when massive transfusion is futile. Consequently, there has been a recent attempt to develop scoring systems in the prehospital and emergency department settings which include clinical, laboratory, and physiologic parameters and blood products per hour transfused as predictors of futile resuscitation. Defining futility in SBTPs, however, remains unclear, and there is only nascent literature which defines those criteria which reliably predict futility in SBTPs. The purpose of this review is to provide a focused examination of the literature in order to define reliable parameters of futility in SBTPs. The knowledge of these reliable parameters of futility may help define a foundation for drawing conclusions which will provide a clear roadmap for traumatologists when confronted with SBTPs who are candidates for the declaration of futility. Therefore, we systematically reviewed the literature regarding the definition of futile resuscitation for patients with trauma-induced hemorrhagic shock, and we propose a concise roadmap for clinicians to help them use well-defined clinical, laboratory, and viscoelastic parameters which can define futility.

Traumatic Brain Injury as an Independent Predictor of Futility in the Early Resuscitation of Patients in Hemorrhagic Shock

This review explores the concept of futility timeouts and the use of traumatic brain injury (TBI) as an independent predictor of the futility of resuscitation efforts in severely bleeding trauma patients. The national blood supply shortage has been exacerbated by the lingering influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of blood donors available, as well as by the adoption of balanced hemostatic resuscitation protocols (such as the increasing use of 1:1:1 packed red blood cells, plasma, and platelets) with and without early whole blood resuscitation. This has underscored the urgent need for reliable predictors of futile resuscitation (FR). As a result, clinical, radiologic, and laboratory bedside markers have emerged which can accurately predict FR in patients with severe trauma-induced hemorrhage, such as the Suspension of Transfusion and Other Procedures (STOP) criteria. However, the STOP criteria do not include markers for TBI severity or transfusion cut points despite these patients requiring large quantities of blood components in the STOP criteria validation cohort. Yet, guidelines for neuroprognosticating patients with TBI can require up to 72 h, which makes them less useful in the minutes and hours following initial presentation. We examine the impact of TBI on bleeding trauma patients, with a focus on those with coagulopathies associated with TBI. This review categorizes TBI into isolated TBI (iTBI), hemorrhagic isolated TBI (hiTBI), and polytraumatic TBI (ptTBI). Through an analysis of bedside parameters (such as the proposed STOP criteria), coagulation assays, markers for TBI severity, and transfusion cut points as markers of futilty, we suggest amendments to current guidelines and the development of more precise algorithms that incorporate prognostic indicators of severe TBI as an independent parameter for the early prediction of FR so as to optimize blood product allocation.

Supporting Individuals With an Acquired Brain Injury: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study Exploring the Everyday Lives of Caregivers

Acquired brain injury (ABI) is one of the most common causes of disability and death globally. Support from informal caregivers is critical to the well-being and quality of life of people with ABI and supports the sustainability of global health and social care systems. This study presents an in-depth qualitative analysis of the experiences of eight British informal caregivers supporting someone with ABI. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with narratives transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Three superordinate themes were generated: making sense of brain injury; being consumed by caregiving; and, the changing self. These data highlight the impact of caregiving on the caregiver's illness perceptions and sense of self. By identifying negative and positive changes in the caregiver's sense of self, and dilemmas regarding the care recipient's behaviour, we address less understood aspects of caregiver experiences. Caregiving can pose both challenges to the caregiver's sense of identity and an opportunity for self-growth. Some caregivers exhibit resilience throughout their journey, with post-traumatic growth more apparent in the later stages of caregiving. Illness perceptions shape caregiver well-being and family dynamics and indicate the need to address stigmatisation and discrimination faced by ABI survivors and caregivers. Although some caregivers acquired positive meaning and enrichment from their caregiving, previously described challenges of ABI caregiving are supported. Overall, our findings support the need for timely psychological/mental health support for caregivers, caregiver education, and the provision of short breaks from caregiving.

Physiological and radiological parameters predicting outcome from penetrating traumatic brain injury treated in the deployed military setting

INTRODUCTION

Penetrating traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common cause of death in current military conflicts, and results in significant morbidity in survivors. Identifying those physiological and radiological parameters associated with worse clinical outcomes following penetrating TBI in the austere setting may assist military clinicians to provide optimal care.

METHOD

All emergency neurosurgical procedures performed at a Role 3 Medical Treatment Facility in Afghanistan for penetrating TBI between 01 January 2016 and 18 December 2020 were analysed. The odds of certain clinical outcomes (death and functional dependence post-discharge) occurring following surgery were matched to existing agreed preoperative variables described in current US and UK military guidelines. Additional physiological and radiological variables including those comprising the Rotterdam criteria of TBI used in civilian settings were additionally analysed to determine their potential utility in a military austere setting.

RESULTS

55 casualties with penetrating TBI underwent surgery, all either by decompressive craniectomy (n=42) or craniotomy±elevation of skull fragments (n=13). The odds of dying in hospital attributable to TBI were greater with casualties with increased glucose on arrival (OR=70.014, CI=3.0399 to 1612.528, OR=70.014, p=0.008) or a mean arterial pressure <90 mm Hg (OR=4.721, CI=0.969 to 22.979, p=0.049). Preoperative hyperglycaemia was also associated with increased odds of being functionally dependent on others on discharge (OR=11.165, CI=1.905 to 65.427, p=0.007). Bihemispheric injury had greater odds of being functionally dependent on others at discharge (OR=5.275, CI=1.094 to 25.433, p=0.038).

CONCLUSIONS

We would recommend that consideration of these three additional preoperative clinical parameters (hyperglycaemia, hypotension and bihemispheric injury on CT) when managing penetrating TBI be considered in future updates of guidelines for deployed neurosurgical care.