Abstract

MOSQUERA BETANCOURT, Gretel; VEGA BASULTO, Sergio; VALDEBLANQUEZ ATENCIO, Johanna  and  VARELA HERNANDEZ, Ariel. Protocol of hospital management of the cranioencephalic trauma in the elderly. AMC [online]. 2010, vol.14, n.1, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1025-0255.

Background: the cranioencephalic trauma has been denominated as the silent epidemic and those bigger than sixty years constitute a vulnerable population to suffer this trauma. Objective: to characterize the behavior of the cranioencephalic trauma in the elderly and to describe the protocol for the hospital treatment of this disease in geriatrics patients. Method: a descriptive study of two hundred sixty three adults with cranioencephalic trauma who were attended by the neurosurgical service of the hospital "Manuel Ascunce Domenech" of Camagüey, from between January 2002 to January 2006. Methods of descriptive statistics were applied. Results: the male sex and the group of from sixty to seventy-nine years prevailed. The 73% of the patients suffered some chronic disease. Minor cranioencephalic trauma was the most frequent variety. The chronic subdural hematoma was the main cause of surgery. Severe cranioencephalic trauma had a high mortality with a bigger incidence of the encephalic contusion accompanied by cerebral edema. Conclusions: the cranioencephalic trauma in the elderly has characteristic that identify it and should be taken into account to elaborate treatment protocols to improve medical care that is offered to this majority group of patients.

Keywords : hospital care; aged; craneocerebral trauma.

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