Does serum osmolarity change as a result of the reflex neuroprotective mechanism of cerebral osmo-regulation after minor head trauma?
OBJECTIVE
It is well known that changes in cerebral hemodynamics occur after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Osmo-regulation in the brain is important for maintaining a constant milieu in the central nervous system. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, early osmolarity changes after minor head injury have not been studied until now.


METHODS
In this study, serum osmolarity was measured in 99 patients with minor head trauma. As a control group, blood samples were drawn from 99 patients who had a minor trauma in an extremity. Serum osmolarity was estimated using a fully automatic biochemical autoanalyzer within the first 3 hours after the trauma.


RESULTS
The mean serum osmolarity levels were 286.08+/-10.17 mOsm/L in the study group and 290.94+/-5.65 mOsm/L in the control group (p<0.001). However, after age adjustment between the study and control groups, this statistical significance was found to be valid only for patients over 30 years of age.


CONCLUSIONS
It was noted that serum osmolarity levels decrease in the first 3 hours following minor head trauma in patients over 30 years of age. Further studies into this area could provide guidance for the management/treatment of elderly patients.
Department of Neurosurgery, Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
Naci
N
Balak
Nilgün
N
Isiksacan
Recai
R
Turkoglu