According to new research, treatment by neurologists following traumatic brain injury could improve patient outcomes and reduce long-term disability associated with traumatic brain injury.
The study of over 15,000 patients on Australia’s Victorian State Trauma Registry looked into the causes of brain injury. It revealed that those who suffer seizures following a moderate-to-severe head injury are at a higher risk of severe complications than those who do not.
Lead Dr Joshua Laing led Melbourne’s Alfred and Monash University research team, which found that individuals who suffer a seizure following a TBI are at a higher risk of death but are also more likely to develop epilepsy years after the injury.
People who experience a seizure after a brain injury are more likely to be admitted to intensive care, require ventilated care more often, have a longer hospital stay, and tend to be discharged into post-acute rehabilitation instead of going home after leaving hospital.
Neurologist Dr Laing explained,
“The study highlights the importance of early post-traumatic seizures on overall morbidity and mortality, additional to that of traumatic brain injury.
While this was long suspected, this study provides significant evidence to support these theories and for possible revisions in how we manage people following TBI.
Often neurologists don’t get in involved in a patient’s treatment until down the line, so maybe this means that there’s a need for us to get involved a little earlier.”
Access the full research at ResearchGate.net.