Neurosurgical treatment in elderly patients with Traumatic brain injury: A 20-year follow-up study

INTRODUCTION: Traumatic brain injury in the elderly population can have a substantial impact on patients’ quality of life. In this regard, successful treatment strategies are hard to define to date. RESEARCH QUESTION: In order to facilitate further insight, this study assessed outcomes following acute subdural hematoma evacuation in patients aged ≥65 years in a large patient series. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A manual screening of the clinical records of 2999 TBI patients aged ≥65 years, admitted to the University Hospital Leuven (Belgium) between 1999 and 2019, was performed. RESULTS: A total of 149 patients were identified with aSDH, of whom 32 underwent early surgery, 33 underwent delayed surgery and 84 were treated conservatively. Patients who underwent early surgery had the lowest median GCS, poorest Marshall CT scores, longest hospital and ICU stay, and highest intensive care unit admission and redo surgery rates. 30-d mortality was 21.9% in patients undergoing early surgery, 3.0% in patients undergoing late surgery and 16.7% in patients who were treated conservatively. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In conclusion, patients in whom surgery could not be delayed had the worst presentation and poorest outcomes as opposed in patients in whom delay was possible. Surprisingly, patients treated conservatively had worse outcomes than those treated with delayed surgery. These results might indicate that if the GCS at admission is still adequate, an initial strategy of waiting and seeing might be associated with better outcomes. Future prospective studies with sufficient sample size are warranted to draw more definitive conclusions on the value of early vs. late surgery in elderly patients with aSDH.