The intracranial number of foreign bodies as a predictor of mortality after penetrating brain injury

Introduction

Penetrating brain injury (PBI) is the most lethal form of traumatic brain injury, which is a leading cause of mortality. PBI has a mortality rate of 23%–93% and 87%–100% with poor neurological status. Despite the use of various prognostic factors there is still a need for a specific prognostic factor for early prediction of mortality in PBI to reduce mortality and provide good outcomes with cost-effective surgical treatments. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive value of the number of intracranial foreign bodies (FBs) on mortality in PBI in the Emergency Department.

Methods

The study included 95 patients admitted with PBI caused by barrel bomb explosion. The intracranial number of FB was examined by brain computed tomography. Logistic regression was used to assess the association of the intracranial number of FB on mortality. Correlation analyses were performed to investigate the association of Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) with intracranial number of FB.

Results

The optimal cut-off value of the intracranial number of FB calculated for mortality was 2, which was effective for predicting mortality (p?2 intracranial FB, the mortality rate was statistically significantly 51-fold higher than those with ≤2 (p?r?=??0.697; p?

Conclusion

When the intracranial number of FB was >2, mortality significantly increased in patients with PBI. The intracranial number of FBs may be considered as a novel prognostic factor for the prediction of mortality in PBI.