title: Cerebral endothelial damage after severe head injury.
abstract: We demonstrate that in head injuries the degree of cerebral endothelial activation or injury depends on the type of brain injury and the patients age, and that in severe head injuries measuring the serum levels of thrombomodulin (TM) and von Willebrand factor (vWF) is useful in evaluating cerebral endothelial injury and activation. The values of vWF in the cases of focal brain injury were significantly higher than in the cases of diffuse axonal injury. The serum levels of TM in focal brain injuries were higher than in diffuse axonal injuries, but the differences were not statistically significant. In patients with delayed traumatic intracerebral hematoma (DTICH), vWF levels were much higher than in patients without DTICH. The values of TM and vWF in elderly patients were significantly higher than in younger patients. These findings indicate that: 1) the degree of endothelial activation in focal brain injury is significantly higher than in diffuse brain injury; 2) the degree of cerebral endothelial injury in patients with DTICH is much higher than in those without DTICH; and 3) the degree of cerebral endothelial activation and injury in elderly head injury patients is significantly higher than in younger patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan. yokota@nms.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yokota
mesh_terms: D000210:Acute-Phase Reaction; D000367:Age Factors; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D020202:Cerebral Hemorrhage, Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D004727:Endothelium / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014841:von Willebrand Factor / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000954:Antigens, Surface; D015415:Biomarkers; C108426:thrombomucin protein, Gallus; D014841:von Willebrand Factor