Contusion Index: Its Importance in Management of Traumatic Brain Contusions

Abstract

Objective: To describe the changes of Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) aftersurgical and / or conservative management of patients with contusions based on Contusion Index (C. I.). Study Design: Descriptive StudySetting: Department ofNeurosurgery, Dow University ofHealth Sciences/ Civil Hospital, Karachi. Duration of Study: Two years and five months between August 2006 and January 2009.Subjects and Methods: 50 patients of ages between 6 to 75 years, including both sexes were evaluated on thebasis of contusion index as determined by computerized tomographic scan (C.T. Scan) findings and theirGlasgow outcome scores were established. Results: Patients with contusion index 0 - 3 should be conservatively managed. Patients with contusion index6 should be given the benefit of some sort of surgical procedure first, which showed best results with surgicalmanagement and poor results with conservative management. Patients with contusion index 9, no matter what,always show a poor outcome. Conclusion: We recommend that a future study should be done to arrive at a decision regarding conservativeversus surgical management of patients with cerebral contusions based on Contusion Index which will help usavoid unnecessary surgeries and vice versa.

Keywords

• Contusion Index
• Glasgow outcome score
• Intracerebral Contusions