RESUMO
Objective To investigate the clinical outcome of modified large decompressive craniectomy in treatment of severe traumatic brain injury combined with acute subdural hematoma. Methods A retrospective analysis was carried out to compare the clinical outcome of large decompressive craniectomy (treatment group) for 81 patients with severe traumatic brain injury combined with acute subdural hematoma from July 2007 to June 2010 and that of standard large trauma decompressive craniectomy (control group) for 65 patients with same injuries from July 2004 to June 2007. Results According to the Glasgow outcome scale at the end of month 6 after injury, there were 21 patients (GCS 5 points) with good recovery, 19 (GCS4 points) with moderate deficit, 24 (GCS 3 points) with severe deficit, five (GCS 2 points) under persistent vegetative status and 12 (GCS 1 points) deaths in the treatment group,with good prognosis rate (good recovery and moderate deficit) of 49% (P ＜ 0.05) and poor prognosis rate of 51%. However, only 21 patients got favorable outcome, including 12 patients (GCS 5 points)with good recovery and nine (GCS 4 points) with moderate deficit; 44 patients got unfavorable outcome (68%), including 22 patients (GCS 3 points) with severe deficit, three (GCS 2 points) under persistent vegetative status and 19 (GCS 1 points) deaths in the control group (P ＜0.05). Furthermore, the incidences of delayed intracranial hematomas and subdural collection of fluid in the treatment group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.05). Conclusion Modified large decompressive craniectomy can significantly improve the outcome and reduce complications of patients with severe traumatic brain injury combined with acute subdural hematoma.