Preliminary guideline- and pathophysiology-based protocols for neurocritical care

Review of Temperature Management in Traumatic Brain Injuries

Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) for severe traumatic brain injury has seen restricted application due to the outcomes of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted since 2000. In contrast with earlier RCTs, recent trials have implemented active normothermia management in control groups, ensuring comparable intensities of non-temperature-related therapeutic interventions, such as neurointensive care. This change in approach may be a contributing factor to the inability to establish the efficacy of TH. Currently, an active temperature management method using temperature control devices is termed "targeted temperature management (TTM)". One of the goals of TTM for severe traumatic brain injury is the regulation of increased intracranial pressure, employing TTM as a methodology for intracranial pressure management. Additionally, fever in traumatic brain injury has been acknowledged as contributing to poor prognosis, underscoring the importance of proactively preventing fever. TTM is also employed for the preemptive prevention of fever in severe traumatic brain injury. As an integral component of current neurointensive care, it is crucial to precisely delineate the targets of TTM and to potentially apply them in the treatment of severe traumatic brain injury.

Electrolyte Imbalance and Neurologic Injury

Neurologic injury continues to be a debilitating worldwide disease with high morbidity and mortality. The systemic sequelae of a neural insult often lead to prolonged hospital stays and challenging nutritional demands that contribute to poorer prognoses. Clinical management of a given condition should prioritize preserving the homeostatic parameters disrupted by inflammatory response cascades following the primary insult. This focused review examines the reciprocal relationship between electrolyte disturbance and neurologic injury. A prolonged electrolyte imbalance can significantly impact morbidity and mortality in neurologic injuries. A detailed overview of the major electrolytes and their physiologic, iatrogenic, and therapeutic implications are included. The pathophysiology of how dysnatremias, dyskalemias, dyscalcemias, and dysmagnesemias occur and the symptoms they can induce are described. The manifestations in relation to traumatic brain injury, status epilepticus, and acute ischemic stroke are addressed. Each type of injury and the strength of its association with a disruption in either sodium, potassium, calcium, or magnesium is examined. The value of supplementation and replacement is highlighted with an emphasis on the importance of early recognition in this patient population. This review also looks at the current challenges associated with correcting imbalances in the setting of different injuries, including the relevant indications and precautions for some of the available therapeutic interventions. Based on the findings of this review, there may be a need for more distinct clinical guidelines on managing different electrolyte imbalances depending on the specified neurologic injury. Additional research and statistical data on individual associations between insult and imbalance are needed to support this potential future call for context-based protocols.

Predictive Factors for Delayed Surgical Intervention in Children With Epidural Hematomas

BACKGROUND

Optimal treatment of children with traumatic intracranial epidural hematomas (EDHs) is unknown. We sought to identify clinical and radiographic predictors of delayed surgical intervention among children with EDH admitted for observation.

METHODS

We retrospectively identified patients younger than 15 years with acute traumatic EDHs evaluated at our level 1 pediatric trauma center. We excluded patients with penetrating head injuries, recent surgical evacuation of EDH, or depressed skull fracture requiring surgical repair and assigned the remaining subjects to the immediate surgery group if they underwent immediate surgical evacuation, to the supportive-therapy-only group if they underwent observation only, and to the delayed surgery group if they underwent surgery after observation. We abstracted clinical and laboratory findings, surgical interventions, and neurological outcome and measured EDH dimensions and volumes, adjusting for cranial size. We compared clinical and radiographic characteristics among groups and performed receiver-operator characteristic analyses of predictors of delayed surgery.

RESULTS

Of 172 patients with EDH, 103 patients met the inclusion criteria, with 6 (6%) in the immediate surgery group, 87 (84%) in the supportive-therapy-only group, and 10 (10%) in the delayed surgery group. Headache, prothrombin time of >14 seconds, EDH maximal thickness of ≥1.1 cm, volume of ≥14 mL, EDH thickness/cranial width index of ≥0.08 and EDH volume/cranial volume index of ≥0.18, and mass effect were associated with delayed surgical intervention. There was no difference in length of stay or functional impairment between the immediate and delayed surgery groups. However, patients in delayed surgery group were more likely to have subjective symptoms at discharge than those in immediate surgery group.

CONCLUSIONS

Among patients with EDH admitted for observation, larger EDH, mass effect, headaches, and prothrombin time of >14 seconds were associated with delayed surgical intervention. A larger-scale study is warranted to identify independent predictors of delayed surgery in children under observation for EDH.

Effects of apolipoprotein E polymorphism on cerebral oxygen saturation, cerebral perfusion, and early prognosis after traumatic brain injury

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effects of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene on oxygen saturation and cerebral perfusion in the early stages of traumatic brain injury (TBI).

METHODS

This study included 136 consecutive TBI patients and 51 healthy individuals. The APOE genotypes of all subjects were determined using quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR). Regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rScO2) of patients with TBI and normal subjects was monitored using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Computed tomography (CT) perfusion was used to obtain cerebral perfusion in patients with TBI and normal subjects.

RESULTS

In the TBI group, the rScO2 of APOEε4 carriers (53.06 ± 6.87%) was significantly lower than that of non-carriers (58.19 ± 5.83%, p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the MTT of APOEε4 carriers (6.75 ± 1.30 s) was significantly longer than that of non-carriers (5.87 ± 1.00 s, p < 0.05). Furthermore, correlation analysis showed a negative correlation between rSCO2 and MTT in patients with TBI. Both the univariate and multifactorial logistic regression analyses revealed that APOE ε4, hypoxia, MTT >5.75 s, Marshall CT Class, and GCS were independent risk factors for early poor prognosis in patients with TBI.

CONCLUSION

Both cerebral perfusion and cerebral oxygen were significantly impaired after TBI, and low cerebral perfusion and hypoxia were related to poor prognosis of patients with TBI. Compared with APOE ε4 non-carriers, APOE ε4 carriers not only had poorer cerebral perfusion and cerebral oxygen metabolism but also worse prognosis in the early stages of TBI. Furthermore, a negative correlation was observed between the rSCO2 and MTT levels. In addition, both CT perfusion scanning (CTP) and NIRS are reliable for monitoring the condition of patients with TBI in the neurological intensive care unit (NICU).

eNeuroIntensive Care in India: The Need of the Hour

Background

As ICU consultants in smaller hospitals may not be familiar with neurocritical care and with current travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one needs to relook at how neurocritical care can be provided.

Objective

This article reviews the authors' experience of providing remote neurointensive care, from a non-specialist ICU over a 16-month period.

Material and Methods

61 neuro consultations were provided for 56 patients admitted in remote ICU's, including five repeat consultations. Most teleconsultations were from three rural hospitals. The central command center has monitored remote patients with neurological conditions, in 23 ICUs.

Results and Conclusions

Providing real-time virtual neuro intensive advice to ICU's in smaller cities even without dedicated neuro-intensive units is feasible in India. eNeuroIntensive care is particularly necessary in the current "New Normal" era.

The association between neuromuscular blockade use during target temperature management and neurological outcomes

BACKGROUND

To date, no study has comprehensively analyzed the association between neuromuscular blockade (NMB) during target temperature management (TTM) and the neurological outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) using a multicenter dataset. We aimed to examine the association between NMB during TTM after cardiac arrest and neurological outcomes after OHCA.

METHODS

This study was a secondary analysis of the Japanese Population-based Utstein-style study with defibrillation and basic/advanced Life Support Education and implementation-Hypothermia (J-PULSE-HYPO) study registry. The exposure of the current study was the use of NMB during TTM. The primary outcome was favorable neurological outcome, i.e., a cerebral performance category of 1-2, at hospital discharge.

RESULTS

Of the 452 patients with OHCA enrolled in the J-PULSE-HYPO study, 431 were analyzed. NMB was used in 353 patients (81.9%). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that NMB use was not independently associated with favorable outcomes [odds ratio (OR), 0.96; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.42-2.18; p = .918)] or survival at discharge (OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.31-2.02; p = .688). After adjusting the covariates, the predicted probabilities did not reveal significant differences between NMB use and non-NMB use in the respective mean (95% CI) values for favorable neurological outcomes [53.6 (50.2-57.0) % vs. 58.0 (50.4-65.6) %, p = .304], and survival rates [77.1 (74.7-79.5) % vs. 75.8 (70.5-81.0) %, p = .647].

CONCLUSIONS

The NMB use during TTM was not associated with favorable neurological outcomes and survival rate in patients with OHCA.

Characteristics of traumatic brain injury during Operation Enduring Freedom–Afghanistan: a retrospective case series

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, especially among members of the armed services. Injuries sustained in the battlefield are subject to different mechanisms than those sustained in civilian life, particularly blast and high-velocity injury. Due to the unique nature of these injuries and the challenges associated with battlefield medicine, surgical interventions play a key role in acute management of TBI. However, the burden of chronic disease posed by TBI is poorly understood and difficult to investigate, especially in the military setting. The authors report the case logs of a United States Navy neurosurgeon, detailing the acute management and outcomes of 156 patients sustaining TBI between November 2010 and May 2011 during the war in Afghanistan. By demographics, more than half of the patients treated were local nationals. By mechanism of injury, blunt trauma (40.4%) and explosive injury (37.2%) were the most common contributors to TBI. Decompressive craniectomies (24.0%) and clot evacuations (14.7%) were the procedures most commonly performed. Nearly one-quarter of patients were transferred to receive further care, yet only 3 patients were referred for rehabilitative services. Furthermore, the data suggest that patients sustaining comorbid injuries in addition to TBI may be predisposed to worse outcomes. Improvements in documentation of military patients may improve knowledge of TBI and further identify potential variables or treatments that may affect prognosis. The increased survivability from TBI also highlights the need for additional research expenditure in the field of neurorehabilitation specifically.