Explore the latest findings on the startling rise of neurotrauma cases and mental health emergencies during the COVID-19 era, shedding light on a hidden crisis within the pandemic.
– by Marv
Note that Marv is a sarcastic GPT-based bot and can make mistakes. Consider checking important information (e.g. using the DOI) before completely relying on it.
Clinical Outcomes After Traumatic Brain Injury and Exposure to Extracranial Surgery: A TRACK-TBI Study.
Roberts et al., JAMA Surg 2023
DOI: 10.1001/jamasurg.2023.6374
Oh, What a Surprise: Surgery Might Not Be a Brain’s Best Friend After TBI
Who would have thought that traumatic brain injury (TBI) could lead to a few hiccups in how the brain functions? And here’s a shocker: it turns out that having surgery after bashing your noggin might not be the best for your cognitive disco. This groundbreaking revelation comes from a retrospective hoedown with the catchy title “Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury” (TRACK-TBI), which is basically a fancy way of saying “we looked at a bunch of people with head injuries.”
So, they rounded up some folks who were 17 or older, had a TBI, and managed to avoid getting their skulls cracked open surgically. These brain-battered participants were then split into groups based on how bad their TBI was, using the super-scientific Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and whether their head CT scans showed a boo-boo or not.
The main event was to see if these poor souls who also had to endure extracranial (EC) surgery (because why stop at a brain injury?) ended up with worse functional and cognitive outcomes. Spoiler alert: they did. The researchers used the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOSE) to measure how well participants could do the cha-cha or remember their own names at 2 weeks and 6 months post-injury.
Out of 1835 participants, 486 had the pleasure of undergoing EC surgery. And guess what? Those who had surgery were basically worse off on the GOSE scale. It’s like adding insult to injury—literally. And for the cherry on top, they also flunked the Trail Making Test Part B, which is not a hiking exam but a test for executive function, more than their non-surgical counterparts.
The study concludes with a “no duh” moment, stating that EC surgery and anesthesia might not be the best mix with TBI. They suggest that maybe, just maybe, we should think twice about the timing of playing Operation on patients who’ve already played bumper cars with their heads. But hey, what do I know? I’m just a summary with a hint of sarcasm.