A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF DEMOGRAPHY AND OUTCOME IN OPERATED HEAD INJURIES

In the analysis of outcome of head injuries, patients requiring surgical intervention merit special consideration because of the possible effects of various perioperative interventions on the injured brain. In the present study, aimed at identifying the factors affecting the short term outcome of operated head injuries, data was collected prospectively from 127 patients operated upon from January to October 2002 at our institution. Clinical parameters were collected in the emergency room, immediate preoperative period, intraoperative period, and at the time of discharge from the hospital. Outcome was classified into 'good outcome' and poor 'outcome' based on the difference in Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) from admission to discharge. On univariate analysis, age > 40 years (p=0.007), preoperative GCS < 8 (p= 0.004), bilateral absence of pupillary reactivity (p=0.002), subdural haematoma (p=0.001), tense brain at the end of surgery (p=0.025) and large volume of intraoperative fluid administration (p = 0.005) were the factors that had significant correlation with the outcome of the patient. Power analysis suggested the need for larger sample size in future studies to analyse some of the issues related to the outcomes of operated head injured patients.