Pain as a Guide in Glasgow Coma Scale Status for Neurological Assessment

Neurological status is essential and often challenging for neurosurgical residents and also for neurosurgeons to determine surgical management. Pain as a component of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) can be used as a tool in patients, especially an unconscious or comatose patient. In order to elicit this adequate noxious stimulus, a certain amount of pressure-pain threshold is required upon performing either as the central or peripheral technique. The scientific explanation behind each technique is required and needs to be well understood to aid the localisation of the defect in the neurological system. This paper will briefly review the aid of pain as a neurological guide in GCS status assessment.

Review: Emerging Eye-Based Diagnostic Technologies for Traumatic Brain Injury

The study of ocular manifestations of neurodegenerative disorders, Oculomics, is a growing field of investigation for early diagnostics, enabling structural and chemical biomarkers to be monitored overtime to predict prognosis. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) triggers a cascade of events harmful to the brain, which can lead to neurodegeneration. TBI, termed the "silent epidemic" is becoming a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. There is currently no effective diagnostic tool for TBI, and yet, early-intervention is known to considerably shorten hospital stays, improve outcomes, fasten neurological recovery and lower mortality rates, highlighting the unmet need for techniques capable of rapid and accurate point-of-care diagnostics, implemented in the earliest stages. This review focuses on the latest advances in the main neuropathophysiological responses and the achievements and shortfalls of TBI diagnostic methods. Validated and emerging TBI-indicative biomarkers are outlined and linked to ocular neuro-disorders. Methods detecting structural and chemical ocular responses to TBI are categorised along with prospective chemical and physical sensing techniques. Particular attention is drawn to the potential of Raman spectroscopy as a non-invasive sensing of neurological molecular signatures in the ocular projections of the brain, laying the platform for the first tangible path towards alternative point-of-care diagnostic technologies for TBI.

Comparison of the Turkish versions of the Glasgow coma scale and four score used by intensive care nurses for neurological evaluation

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to compare the use of the Turkish versions of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and Full Outline of UnResponsiveness (FOUR) Score by intensive care nurses in neurological evaluation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted between July 2018 and March 2019 with 92 patients in the general intensive care unit (ICU) of the training and research hospital of a private university. Data were collected using nurse and patient information forms, the GCS and the FOUR Score. The patients were evaluated by 27 intensive care nurses. To evaluate interrater reliability of the GCS and FOUR Score, each patient in the study was evaluated using both scales by two nurses who were blinded to each other's responses.

RESULTS

Comparison of the patients' mean GCS and FOUR Score values from the two nurses revealed no significant difference in subscale or total scores (p > 0.05). Evaluation of interrater reliability demonstrated very good agreement (κ = 0.935, p < 0.001). There was also very good agreement between the results of the two nurse groups when the patients' total scores were categorised according to the cut-off points for the two instruments (κ = 0.927, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated excellent agreement in the Turkish GCS and FOUR Score values, indicating that both scales can be used in neurological evaluation. Both instruments are reliable and easily applied by ICU nurses.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

The Turkish versions of the FOUR Score and GCS are both appropriate for use in intensive care units and are reliable tools for use by intensive care unit nurses.