title: Electrocardiographic changes in craniocerebral trauma--could they serve as prognostic indicators?
abstract: Electrocardiographic (ECG) changes were analysed in one hundred patients of craniocerebral injuries irrespective of age and sex. Males comprised 82% of patients and most vulnerable age group was 15-40 years (66%). Although the overall mortality was 17%, the maximum mortality (44.44%) was observed in the age group of 41-60 years. Computed tomographic scan proved lesions in intracerebral haemorrhage, subdural haematoma, mixed lesions and extradural haematoma were associated with mortality rates in 66.66, 33.33, 20 and 11.11 per cent respectively. ECG changes of some or the other type were present in almost all patients (99%) but ST-segment shift, sinus tachycardia/bradycardia, T-wave changes and prolonged QTc-interval (> 440 msec) carried high mortality rates of 60, 34.6/27.3, 19.6 and 17.3 per cent respectively, especially if these changes persisted for long duration. Occurrence of supraventricular tachycardia and nodal arrhythmia, although associated with high (50%) mortality rates, were probably terminal events rather than the cause of increased mortality. There was, however, no direct correlation between the type of craniocerebral injury and specific ECG changes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Pt BD Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Singla
authors.lastname: Jagdish
authors.forename: Pradeep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Garg
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Mehta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality*; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed