This guideline covers the assessment and early management of head injury in children, young people and adults. Although the vast majority of children with head trauma have minor injuries, a small number, even among wellappearing children, will have more serious injuries with the potential for deterioration and significant sequelae. Canadian pediatric societys classification of pediatric head injury. Consider premedication of fentanyl or lidocaine as part of rapidsequence intubation rsi algorithm to blunt the bodys sympathetic response to intubation, which results in increased intracranial pressure icp these medications need to be given a full 2 minutes before intubation to be effective, therefore not suitable in crash intubation. Minor head injury is also often referred to as concussion, mild head injury or minor brain injury. As the primary insult, which represents the direct mechanical damage, cannot be therapeutically influenced, target of the treatment is the limitation of the secondary damage delayed nonmechanical damage. Second injury occurs before first has healed and caused cerebral edema, increased icp, brain hernia, coma, or death in 50% define postconcussion syndrome. Methods we enrolled patients younger than 18 years presenting within 24 h of head trauma with glasgow coma scale scores of 1415 in 25 n orth american emergency departments. Kristen geyer, bsn, rn, ccrn,is a pediatric icu rn3, inova hospital for children, falls church, va. Tbi can result when the head suddenly and violently hits an object, or when an object pierces the skull and enters brain tissue.
In the 1970s, 50% of patients with severe head injuries died as a result. Early management of head injury in adults in primary care ncbi. It promotes effective clinical assessment so that people receive the right care for the severity of their head injury, including referral directly to. Pediatric emergency care applied research network pecarn. There is a need for a prospective validation and direct comparison of the 2014. Educational tool pecarn for pediatric head ct for minor head trauma overview minor head injuries occur commonly in children and adolescents. But if you see signs of problems either now or later, let your doctor know about the injury and symptoms as soon as you suspect problems. The goal of mankind is knowledge, which is is inherent in man. A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain.
Patients whose gcs scores are recorded are usually those with head injuries or altered levels of consciousness but the gcs scores of all patients except those in the minor injuries area should. Accident prevention see unintentional injuries among under15s acute coronary syndromes see chest pain acute coronary syndromes, hyperglycaemia. Pecarn traumatic brain injury algorithm radiology reference. The healthcare professionals treating you will first make sure youre in a stable condition, before asking some questions to help with the diagnosis and treatment of. Pediatric head trauma ct decision guide children 2 years and older intermediate risk 0. This rule was derived from the multicenter pecarn network with both a derivation and validation arm to detect clinically important traumatic brain citbi injury in children to age 18yrs old after blunt head trauma the rule stratifies patients pdf file of the complete article 1. Jan 21, 2010 traumatic head injury toh c j slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of injuries, there are many causesincluding accidents, falls, physical assault, or traffic accidentsthat can cause head injuries. Not a single typekind of head injury or, in other words, the presence of any head injury having no head injury or, in other words, the absence of a head injury these two interpretations are contradictory. What happens if the cat scan or head xray shows a problem. The terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in the medical literature.
Pediatric head trauma 2 years ct decision guide under. Management of head injury american college of surgeons. The knowledge of the pathophysiology after traumatic head injury is necessary for adequate and patientoriented treatment. After experimental brain trauma the longterm accumulation of amyloid. Pecarn management algorithm for children after head trauma. It occurs when a sudden trauma damages the brain and disrupts normal brain function. Use an orogastric tube, not a nasogastric tube, if an anterior basilar skull fracture or midface fracture is suspected. A traumatic brain injury tbi is defined as a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. Educational tool pecarn for pediatric head ct for minor. Head xrays can show fractures bone breaks of the skull, but do not show if there is a brain injury. This can occur even if there is no direct external impact to the head e. Insights into brain injury national institutes of health. Swami vivekananda education eduse latin to bring out 2.
Pecarn traumatic brain injury algorithm dr owen kang and dr james condon et al. Inflicted head injury is the most common cause of traumatic death in infancy 2, 3. Traumatic brain injuries range from mild called mild traumatic brain injury to severe. The lancet original articles mechanics of head injuries a. Can children be identified for low risk clinicallyimportant traumatic brain injury and avoid brain ct imaging. Common head injuries include concussions, skull fractures, and scalp.
With inflicted head injury an accurate history is rarely provided at presentation. Occurs 2 weeks2 months postinjury, characterized by persistent headache, decreased attention span, lethargy, decreased short term memory, and changes in cognitionpersonality. Initial management of closed head injury in adults agency for. Head injury, pathophysiology and management, second edition. Minor head injury and concussion the brain injury association. A head injury or a traumatic brain injury tbi occurs when an outside force damages the brain such as a blow to the head which may lead to physical and cognitive impairments. The canadian ct head rule is a wellvalidated clinical decision aid that allows physicians to safely rule out the presence of intracranial injuries that. Acute care management kristen geyer, karen meller, carol kulpan, and bernice d. The phrase no head injury could potentially mean either of the following. Tbi is commonly referred to as a head injury which involves damages to the brain causing difficulties with communication, cognition and movement such as poor coordination. They can even show very minor injuries that may not need treatment. The initial study was carried out in 10 canadian emergency departments amongst 3121 patients. The pecarn pediatric emergency care applied research network traumatic brain injury algorithm is a clinical decision rule that aims to identify children at very low risk of clinically important traumatic brain injury citbi 1. After injury, childs activity should be quiet avoid activities or play in which heshe could have another head injury.
But, as the brain rebounds, the occipital lobes, directly opposite the frontals, strike the inner occipital bone contrecoup injury directly opposite the point of impact. Coup injury damage occurring at the point of head trauma impact e. This can range from a mild bump or bruise to a traumatic brain injury. Training should be made available as required to ensure that this is the case. Cat scans can show brain injury and may be helpful in deciding the seriousness of the injury. The canadian ct head rule ccthr is a validated clinical decision rule to determine the need for ct head in adult emergency department patients with minor head injuries. Holbourn ma edin, d phil oxfd research physicist, university laboratory of physiology and department of surgery, oxford the assumption that there is a mechanics of head injuries implies that, when the head receives a blow, the behaviour of the skull and brain during and immediately after the blow is determined by the physical.
This rule was derived from the multicenter pecarn network with both a derivation and validation arm to detect clinically important traumatic brain citbi injury in children to age 18yrs old after blunt head trauma. Education, training and audit are crucial to improving standards of transfer. Nonaccidental head injury nahi is largely restricted to children under three years of age, with the majority occurring during the first year of life 2. When the glial limitans breaks down, harmful molecules can get into the brain. Pediatric head injury american academy of pediatrics. Nice guideline and chalice, catch and pecarn clinical. An excellent book that deserves to be read by anyone interested in the treatment of this type of pathology. The last 20 years have seen major advances in the prevention and treatment of head injury, resulting in a substantial decrease in associated mortality. Head injury and unconsciousness brain injury injury to the brain is one of the more serious outcomes that occur due to injury or illness. This has been a 6 month collaboration focused on bringing evidencebased research to the bedside in pediatric emergency medicine em.
Stabilise airway, breathing and circulation abc before attending to other injuries if the patient has sustained a significant head injury. Consequently, head injured clients should be assessed for both potential injury sites. Links to pubmed are also available for selected references. Only apply to patients with glasgow coma scale gcs 15 and at least one of the following.
It was derived from 22772 children presenting with any head injury over a 2. The pediatric emergency care applied research network pecarn collaborative has teamed up with the aliem and canadiem teams to introduce the official pecarn visual decision rule aid for pediatric blunt head trauma. A high proportion of those with major trauma 86% had injuries to the head and neck with an abbreviated injury scale 3. No assess and manage according to atls apls principles. It promotes effective clinical assessment so that people receive the right care for the severity of their head injury, including referral directly to specialist care if needed. Factors associated with cervical spine injury in children. The head injury overview path for the head injury pathway. Pecarn pediatric head injurytrauma algorithm mdcalc. Melville ka, muizelaar jp, wisner dh, zuspan sj, dean jm, woottongorges sl. The pecarn pediatric head injury prediction rule is a wellvalidated clinical decision aid that allows physicians to safely rule out the presence of clinically important traumatic brain injuries, including those that would require neurosurgical intervention among pediatric head injury patients who meet its criteria without the need for ct imaging. The first aider plays a major role in limiting damage that has already occurred and in preventing damage by identifying the danger of a potential brain injury.
Childs nervous systemsmall enough to read from cover to cover but with enough information to serve as a comprehensive reference on all aspects of traumatic brain injury, this book is unique in the field. Children and infants acute management of head injury. Gcs14 or other signs of alter ed mental status or palpable skdl fracture occipital parieta or scalp or history of s. Assessing the neurological status of patients with head. Within an hour of head injury, the researchers observed parts of microglia immune cells that act as first responders in the brain extending toward the glial limitans and forming a. Tbi may have profound physical, psychological, cognitive, emotional, and social effects. The symptoms of a head injury may occur immediately following trauma, or. Head injuries comprise about 5% of all emergency department ed attendances in the. Identification of children at very low risk of clinically.
Children and infants acute management of head injury summary basic clinical practice guidelines for the acute treatment of infants and children with head injury. But, as the brain rebounds, the occipital lobes, directly opposite the frontals, strike the inner occipital bone contrecoup injurydirectly opposite the point of impact. Traumatic brain injury tbi, also known as acquired brain injury, head injury, or brain injury, causes substantial disability and mortality. Klauber mr, barrettconnor e, marshall lf, bowers sa. Classification and complications of traumatic brain injury. The main injury mechanisms were head to head and head toelbow trauma.
This booklet refers to head injury rather than brain injury, because most minor head injuries result in no longterm damage to the brain, but can cause temporary disruption of brain function. On 872011 the clinical practice guideline attachment was updated to amend the address and contact details for the better health centre inside front cover. Pediatric head trauma ct decision guide children younger than 2 years intermediate risk 0. The mean period of returntoplay after trauma was 33. Mowery objectives and instructions for completing the evaluation and statements of disclosure can be found on page 289. This validated pediatric algorithm predicts likelihood of the above and guides the decision to examine with ct 1,2. Traumatic brain injury is one of the most difficult and challenging management problems facing clinicians. Hyperextension injury of head and neck or direct trauma to neck can cause a carotid artery injury. This validated clinical decision rule provides a means of decreasing brain ct imaging in children with blunt head trauma with a sensitivity of 100% 2yrs old for intracranial injuries. Symptoms of a tbi can be mild, moderate or severe, depending on the extent of damage to the brain. In this group the rule had a sensitivity of 98% for the prediction of clinically significant head injury and if applied would have led to a ct scanning rate of 14% 3210 of children presenting with any head injury. Patient has suffered minor head trauma with resultant. Holbourn ma edin, d phil oxfd research physicist, university laboratory of physiology and department of surgery, oxford the assumption that there is a mechanics of head injuries implies that, when the head receives a blow, the behaviour of the skull and brain during and.