Functional Short-Term Outcomes and Mortality in Children with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: Comparing Decompressive Craniectomy and Medical Management

The effect of decompressive craniectomy (DC) on functional outcomes and mortality in children after severe head trauma is strongly debated. The lack of high-quality evidence poses a serious challenge to neurosurgeons' and pediatric intensive care physicians' decision making in critically ill children after head trauma. This study was conducted to compare DC and medical management in severely head-injured children with respect to short-term outcomes and mortality. Data on patients <18 years of age treated in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland during a 10-year period were extracted from TraumaRegister DGU(®), forming a retrospective multi-center cohort study. Descriptive and multi-variable analyses were performed to compare outcomes and mortality after DC and medical management. Of 2507 patients, 402 (16.0%) received DC. Mortality was 20.6% after DC and 13.7% after medical management. Poor outcome (death or vegetative state) occurred in 27.6% after DC and in 16.1% after medical management. After risk adjustment by logistic regression modeling, the odds ratio was 1.56 (95% confidence interval 1.01-2.40) for poor outcome at intensive care unit discharge and 1.20 (0.74-1.95) for mortality after DC. In summary, DC was associated with increased odds for poor short-term outcomes in children with severe head trauma. This finding should temper enthusiasm for DC in children until a large randomized controlled trial has answered more precisely if DC in children is beneficial or increases rates of vegetative state.