Functional survival after acute care for severe head injury at a designated trauma center in Hong Kong.

BACKGROUND: Severe head injury is known to be a major cause of early mortalities and morbidities. Patients' long-term outcome after acute care, however, has not been widely studied. We aim to review the outcome of severely head-injured patients after discharge from acute care at a designated trauma center in Hong Kong.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective study of prospectively collected data of patients admitted with severe head injuries between 2004 and 2008. Patients' functional status post-discharge was assessed using the Extended Glasgow Outcome Score (GOSE).

RESULTS: Of a total of 1565 trauma patients, 116 had severe head injuries and 41 of them survived acute hospital care. Upon the last follow-up, 23 (56.1%) of the acute-care survivors had improvements in their GOSE, six (11.8%) experienced deteriorations, and 12 (23.5%) did not exhibit any change. The greatest improvement was observed in patients with GOSE of 5 and 6 upon discharge, but two of the 16 patients with GOSE 2 or 3 also had a good recovery. On logistic regression analysis, old age and prolonged acute hospital stay were found to be independent predictors of poor functional outcome after a mean follow-up duration of 42 months.

CONCLUSION: Multidisciplinary neurorehabilitation service is an important component of comprehensive trauma care. Despite significant early mortalities, a proportion of severely head-injured patients who survive acute care may achieve good long-term functional recovery.