Effect of arousal methods for 175 cases of prolonged coma after severe traumatic brain injury and its related factors

Objective: To determine the effect of arousal methods for prolonged coma of 175 patients with severe traumatic brain injury and related factors.Methods: There were 175 cases with persistent coma longer than 1 month after severe traumatic brain injury. Coma lasted 1-12 months. Arousal procedures included hyperbaric oxygen, physical therapy and arousal drugs. Results: In the 175 prolonged coma patients 110 got recovery of consciousness; in 118 cases with coma of 1-3 months, 86 cases recovered consciousness ((72.9)%); in 42 cases with coma of 4-6 months, 20 cases recovered consciousness ((47.6)); and in 15 cases with coma of longer than 6 months, only 4 cases recovered consciousness ((26.7)%). The recovery of consciousness depended on patient's primary brain stem damage, cerebral hernia, GCS score, and age. Conclusions: Application of appropriate arousal procedures improves recovery of consciousness in patients with prolonged coma.