Citation

Maegele M, Lefering R, Sakowitz O, Kopp MA, Schwab JM, Steudel WI, Unterberg A, Hoffmann R, Uhl E, Marzi I. Dtsch. Arztebl. Int. 2019; 116(10): 167-173.

Affiliation

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Trauma Surgery, and Sports Medicine, Cologne Merheim Medical Center, Witten/Herdecke University, Cologne; Institute for Research in Operative Medicine (IFOM), Witten/Herdecke University, Cologne; Neurosurgical Center Ludwigsburg-Heilbronn, RKH Klinikum Ludwigsburg, Academic Teaching Hospital of Heidelberg University, Ludwigsburg; Department of Neurology with Experimental Neurology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health (QUEST), BIH Center for Transforming Biomedical Research, Berlin; Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Director Spinal Cord Injury Division, Ohio State University, Columbus (Ohio) USA; Saarland University Medical Center, Homburg/Saar; Department of Neurosurgery, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg; BG Trauma Center Frankfurt/Main; Department of Neurosurgery Gießen, University Gießen-Marburg Gießen; Department of Trauma-, Handand Reconstructive Surgery, J.W. Goethe University Hospital, Frankfurt/Main.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Deutscher Ärzte-Verlag)

DOI

10.3238/arztebl.2019.0167

PMID

30995953

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The comprehensive expansion of the Trauma Register of the German Trauma Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Unfallchirurgie; TR-DGU) now enables, for the first time, studies on traumatic brain injury (TBI) with special attention to care processes, clinical course, and outcomes of treatment on discharge or transfer from the acute-care hospital.

METHODS: Retrospective analysis of patients documented in the TR-DGU in the period 2013-2017 who had moderate to severe head injury as defined by the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS).

RESULTS: In the period 2013-2017, 41 101 patients with moderate to severe TBI were treated in TR-DGU-associated hospitals in Germany (n = 605 hospitals), corresponding to 8220 cases per year and thus to a population-wide incidence of 10.1 cases per 100 000 persons per year. TBI was present as an isolated injury in 39.1% of cases. The mean age of the patients was 60 years (median; range 0-104 years), and the male-to-female ratio was 2:1. 97.5% of the patients had blunt trauma. Falls from a low height were the most common cause of TBI (38.7%). 43.6% of the patients were intubated before arriving at the hospital, and more than 95% underwent cranial tomographic imaging within 22 minutes of arrival (standard deviation [SD] = 17 minutes). 18.4% underwent an emergency neurosurgical procedure. The in-hospital mortality was 23.5%, corresponding to a population-wide mortality from TBI of 2.4 per 100 000 persons per year. More than half of the patients recovered well or with only mild disability; 14.9% had persistent severe disability or remained in a vegetative state.

CONCLUSION: Putting these figures in the appropriate international context requires the acquisition of comparable data in multiple countries and is the main task of international TBI consortia.

Language: en