The role of amplitude integrated EEG in evaluation of prognosis in comatose patients with severe traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Objective To study the clinical value of amplitude integrated EEG(aEEG), EEG reactivity, EEG patterns, and Glasgow Coma Scale(GCS) scores of predicting the prognosis in comatose patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Methods Sixty-four hospitalized comatose patients with severe traumatic brain injury were evaluated by aEEG, EEG reactivity, EEG patterns and GCS and followed up for one year to observe the prognosis of the patients. Results Accuracy of aEEG, EEG reactivity, EEG patterns and GCS in predicting outcomes of comatose patients with severe traumatic brain injury correctly classified as 73.4%, 68.8%, 73.4%, 64.1% respectively.The accuracy of GCS in evaluating the prognosis of comatose patients with severe traumatic brain injury was lower than that of the other three methods (P<0.05). There were positive correlations among aEEG, EEG reactivity, EEG patterns, and GCS (r=0.574-0.843, P<0.05). There were positive correlations between aEEG, EEG reactivity, EEG patterns, GCS and the patients' prognosis(r=0.647, 0.609, 0.621, 0.532, P<0.05). Conclusion As a new electroencephalographic technique, aEEG combined with EEG reactivity, EEG patterns, and GCS can be effectively used to evaluate the prognosis of STBI coma patients, which has a certain clinical value. Key words: Coma; Severe traumatic brain injury; Amplitude integrated EEG; Prognosis