REVIEW  SEVERE TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY 

Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences 2018 October;62(5):574-83

DOI: 10.23736/S0390-5616.18.04462-4

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Standard of care, controversies, and innovations in the medical treatment of severe traumatic brain injury

Alba SCERRATI ¹ ✉, Silvia DE ROSA ², Lorenzo MONGARDI ¹, Michele A. CAVALLO ¹, Giorgio TRAPELLA ¹, Pasquale DE BONIS ¹

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Sant’Anna University Hospital, Ferrara, Italy; ² Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, San Bortolo Hospital, Vicenza, Italy

Severe traumatic brain injury (STBI) is characterized by a primary injury which cannot be reversed and a secondary injury that can be prevented or reversed. Management of STBI patients in intensive care mainly aims at preventing the secondary injury. Treatment aims to: reducing ICP pressure (that can result in an ischemic insult); avoiding hypotension, hyperthermia, or hypoxemia; maintaining a normal electrolytes homeostasis; treating the autonomic dysfunction syndrome, coagulopathies, acute kidney injury and maintaining an adequate nutrition. Many treatment protocols are already well established, while many others are still debated. Moreover, new frontiers in STBI management are represented by the neurovascular regeneration and neurorestoration which are showing very promising results even if most of them still need a clinical validation. In this paper we review standard of care, controversies and innovations in the medical treatment of STBI.

KEY WORDS: Traumatic brain injuries - Standard of care - Nerve regeneration