Factors with the strongest prognostic value associated with in-hospital mortality rate among patients operated for acute subdural and epidural hematoma

INTRODUCTION: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) still remains a serious health problem and is called a “silent epidemic”. Each year in Europe 262 per 100,000 individuals suffer from TBI. The most common consequence of severe head injuries include acute subdural (SDH) and epidural hematomas (EDH), which usually require immediate surgically treatment. The aim of our study is to identify factors which have the strongest prognostic value in relation to in-hospital mortality rate among of patients undergoing surgery for EDH and SDH. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Cohort included 128 patients with isolated craniocerebral injuries who underwent surgery for EDH (28 patients) and SDH (100 patients) in a single, tertiary care Department of Neurosurgery. The data were collected on admission of patients to the Emergency Department and retrospectively analyzed. The following factors were analyzed: demographic data, physiological parameters, laboratory variables, computed tomography scan characteristics and the time between trauma and surgery. Likewise, we have investigated the in-hospital mortality of patients at the time of discharge. RESULTS: We found that the factors with the strongest prognostic values were: the initial GCS score, respiratory rate, glycaemia, blood saturation, systolic blood pressure, midline shift and type of hematoma. Additionally, we proved that a drop by one point in the GCS score almost doubles the risk of in-hospital death while the presence of coagulopathy increases the risk of in-hospital death almost six times. CONCLUSION: Most of the factors with the strongest prognostic value are factors that the emergency team can treat prior to the hospital admission. Coagulopathy, however that has the strongest influence on in-hospital death rate can only be efficiently treated in a hospital setting.