Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of consequences of traumatic brain injury in children

Abstract

In Russia, about 140–160 thousand children are hospitalized annually with a diagnosis of childhood traumatism. Half of the surviving children with severe traumatic brain injury become disabled. Purpose. To perform a comparative analysis of clinical and anamnestic data and neurological disorders in children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Characteristics of children and research methods. The study involved 81 children with TBI of varying severity. Statistical processing of data was carried out using Student’s test and Fisher’s exact method. Results. The study showed that the duration of the period from the moment of TBI to the hospitalization of children due to post-traumatic complications decreases linearly with increasing age at the time of traumatic brain injury. Mild traumatic brain injury was diagnosed in 47 (58.02%) children, moderate-to-severe — in 16 (19.75%) children, severe traumatic brain injury — in 18 (22.22%) children. The EEG study showed the presence of epileptiform and paroxysmal activity in children not only with moderate and severe, but also mild traumatic brain injury. Post-traumatic epilepsy was diagnosed in 28 (46.67%) children, the risk group for developing post-traumatic epilepsy was 19 (31.67%) children. MRI examination of the brain revealed organic changes in 62.07% of children. Conclusion. A special feature in children is the presence of post-traumatic consequences even after a mild traumatic brain injury. The duration of the period before hospitalization due to post-traumatic consequences in children decreases with increasing age at the time of traumatic brain injury. Focal symptoms in children with severe traumatic brain injury were detected significantly more often than in children with mild and moderate traumatic brain injury.