General care in the management of severe traumatic brain injury: Latin American consensus

• Published in: Medicina intensiva (English ed.) 2020-11, Vol.44 (8), p.500-508
• Main Authors: Godoy, D.A., Videtta, W., Santa Cruz, R., Silva, X., Aguilera-Rodríguez, S., Carreño-Rodríguez, J.N., Ciccioli, F., Piñero, G., Ciro, J.D., da Re-Gutiérrez, S., Domeniconi, G., Fischer, D., Hernández, O., Lacerda-Gallardo, Á., Mejía, J., Panhke, P., Romero, C., Lora, F.S., Soler-Morejón, C., Sufan, J.L., Montes, J.M., Fuenzalida, L.C., Parahnos, J.L., Jibaja, M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Consenso; Consensus; Cuidados generales; General care; Homeostasis; Lesión secundaria; Neuroprotección fisiológica; Physiological neuroprotection; Secondary injury; Traumatic brain injury; Traumatismo craneoencefálico
• ISSN: 2173-5727; 2173-5727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.medine.2020.08.003

Severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) remains prevalent in the young adult population. Indeed, far from descending, the incidence of sTBI remains high. One of the key bases of treatment is to avoid, detect and correct secondary injuries of systemic origin, which aggravate the primary lesion. Much of this can be achieved by maintaining an adequate physiological microenvironment allowing recovery of the damaged brain tissue. General care measures are nonspecific actions designed to meet that objective. The available guidelines on the management of sTBI have not included the topics contemplated in this consensus. In this regard, a group of members of the Latin American Brain Injury Consortium (LABIC), involved in the different aspects of the acute management of sTBI (neurosurgeons, intensivists, anesthesiologists, neurologists, nurses and physiotherapists) were gathered. An exhaustive literature search was made of selected topics in the Lilacs, PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Controlled Register of Trials and Web of Science databases. To establish recommendations or suggestions with their respective strength or weakness, the GRADE methodology (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) was applied. Additionally, certain recommendations (included in complementary material) were not assessed by GRADE, because they constitute a set of therapeutic actions of effective compliance, in which it was not possible to apply the said methodology. Thirty-two recommendations were established, 16 strong and 16 weak, with their respective levels of evidence. This consensus attempts to standardize and establish basic general care measures in this particular patient population. El Traumatismo craneoencefálico grave (TCEg) continúa siendo prevalente en la población adulta joven. Lejos de descender, su incidencia se mantiene elevada. Uno de los pilares en los que se asienta su tratamiento es evitar, detectar y corregir complicaciones secundarias de origen sistémico que agravan la lesión primaria. Gran parte de este objetivo se logra manteniendo un microambiente fisiológico adecuado que permita la recuperación del tejido cerebral lesionado. Las medidas de cuidados generales son acciones inespecíficas destinadas a cumplir dicho objetivo. Las guías disponibles de manejo del TCEg no han incluido la mayoría de los tópicos motivo de este consenso. Para ello, hemos reunido un grupo de profesionales miembros del consorcio latinoamericano de lesión cerebral (LABI