Ghulam Mustafa Wardak, Shabir Ahmad Lehri, Raz Muhammad Kakar.
Impact of Time Taken on the Surgical Outcome of Epidural Hematoma in patients with Road Traffic Accidents.
Pak J Neuro Surg Jan ;17(1):51-5.

Introduction: Traumatic epidural hematoma is a neurosurgical emergency and timely surgical intervention is the standard treatment. The rationale of this study is to highlight the importance of time of surgery on the surgical outcome of epidural hematoma particularly in patients with history of road traffic accidents.Objectives: To determine the impact of time taken on the surgical outcome of epidural hematoma in patients with road traffic accidents.Study Design: Descriptive Case Series.Place and Duration of Study: Bolan Medical Complex Hospital and Sandeman Provincial Hospital, Quetta. From April 2010 to July 2011.Patients and Methods: Sixty adult patients of either gender with H/O road traffic accident with epidural hematoma on axial images of CT scan brain were included. All patients were allocated into three groups with 20 patients in each group. Patients in group I were those in whom time from the occurrence of trauma to the surgical evacuation of hematoma was < 1 hour, 1 to 6 hours in group II and > 6 hours in group III.Results: In group I, 18 (90%) showed favorable and 2 (10%) showed unfavorable outcome. In group II, 14 (70%) showed favorable and 06 (30%) showed unfavorable outcome. In group III, 10 (50%) showed favorable and 10 (50%) showed unfavorable outcome. Significant association was found between outcome and time of surgery (P < 0.05).Conclusions: Frequency of favorable outcome after surgical evacuation was significantly higher in patients in whom surgery was performed within one hour after the trauma.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com