K Selvamuthu Kumaran¹ and S Balaji²*

¹Senior Consultant and HOD, Department of Neurosurgery, Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research centre, Madurai, India
²Final Year Neurosurgery Resident, Department of Neurosurgery, Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre Madurai, India

*Corresponding Author: S Balaji, Final Year Neurosurgery Resident, Department of Neurosurgery, Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre Madurai, India.

Received: June 21, 2022; Published: July 06, 2022

Abstract

Posttraumatic hydrocephalus (PTH) is a frequent and serious complication that follows a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Its incidence varies greatly from study to study, largely based on different criteria for its diagnosis. The purpose of this study is to identify the risk factors like age, admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), decompressive craniectomy (DC) and findings in initial Computed tomography (CT) scan like Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and skull base fracture which may predispose for the development of hydrocephalus in traumatic severe head injury patients.

This is a single center prospective observational study in which patients with age > = 14 and GCS < = 8 are followed with regular CT scan for a period of 4 months during January 2013 to January 2016 admitted in our hospital. A total of 32 post traumatic hydrocephalus cases have been identified among 489 cases included in the study resulting in the incidence of 6.54%. Mean duration of presentation was 48.76 +/-33.26 days. 82% of patients in hydrocephalus group had SAH while 52% in non-hydrocephalus group had SAH in initial scan (P = 0.001). Decompressive craniectomy was done in 69% patients with hydrocephalus while only 32% of non-hydrocephalus group underwent DC (P = 0.00001). Other parameters namely age, sex, GCS, IVH and skull base fractures were not significantly associated with development of hydrocephalus.

To conclude decompressive craniectomy and SAH significantly increases the probability of development of post traumatic hydrocephalus while other factors like IVH, base of skull fracture, age and admission GCS do not increase the development of hydrocephalus. Early cranioplasty may prevent the development of hydrocephalus is to be studied.

Keywords: Hydrocephalus; Glasgow Coma Scale; Decompressive Craniectomy; Computed Tomography; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage; Intraventricular Hemorrhage; Skull Base Fractures.

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Citation

Citation: K Selvamuthu Kumaran and S Balaji. “Post Traumatic Hydrocephalus in Severe Head Injury - Risk Factors". Acta Scientific Neurology 5.8 (2022): 03-09.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 K Selvamuthu Kumaran and S Balaji. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.