Clinical Characteristics and Outcome of Acute Traumatic Brain Injury in the Very Elderly Patients

, Han Jin Jang; , Cheol Su Jwa; , Sin Ah Kim; , RN

Clinical Article

Journal of Korean Society of Geriatric Neurosurgery 2012;8(1):45-50.
Published online June 30, 2012.

Clinical Characteristics and Outcome of Acute Traumatic Brain Injury in the Very Elderly Patients

Han Jin Jang , Cheol Su Jwa , Sin Ah Kim , RN

Department of Neurosurgery, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

초고령 환자들에서 급성 뇌 손상의 임상적 특징과 예후

장한진ㆍ좌철수ㆍ김신아

국립의료원 신경외과

Abstract

Objective
We analyzed clinical characteristics and outcome of the very elderly patients with acute traumatic brain injury.
Methods
We analyzed retrospectively the 27 very elderly patients (80 years) with acute traumatic brain injury admitted to our institute from Jan. 2009 to Dec. 2010. We reviewed initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, cause of injury, type of injury, associated injuries, laboratory findings, outcome of the Very elderly patients. Clinical characteristics and outcome were compared with the 162 younger patient (< 80 years) with acute traumatic brain injury.
Results
Fall (51.9%) and traffic accident (44.4%) were two major mechanisms of acute traumatic brain injury in the very elderly patients. Acute subdural hematoma (SDH) and chronic SDH were most commontraumatic brain injury patterns in the very elderly patients. Co-morbidities such as acute coronary syndrome, acute stroke were significantly more frequent in the very elderly patients than in the younger patients (29.6% vs. 13.6%, p=0.035). Hospital stay was significantly longer in the very elderly patients (36.2 days and 26.3 days, p=0.029). Mortality at 90-days was significantly higher in the very elderly patients (33.3% vs. 15.5%, p=0.025).
Conclusion
This study suggests that the very elderly patients (80 years) have higher mortality after acute traumatic brain injury and present some clinical features different from those in the younger patients.

Key Words: ElderlyㆍOutcomeㆍTraumatic brain injury