Head-injured Adult Patients with GCS of 3 on Admission--who Have a Chance to Survive?

The authors analysed a series of 111 adult patients admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Lódź directly after trauma with initial GCS of 3 points. 74% of them had intracranial haematoma, mainly subdural, and were treated surgically within the first 3 hours after trauma. 8 patients had no abnormalities on CT scans. 99 (89%) patients died 2 to 30 days after injury, 8 (7%) survived in a vegetative state, and only in 4 (4%) was a satisfactory result noted, but 2 of them had a stable neurological deficit. 3 of these 4 patients had epidural haematomas and 1 had not abnormalities on repeated CT examinations. We conclude, that among patients with GCS of 3 on admission, only those without major CT abnormalities or with epidural haematoma have a chance of survival. Cases with cerebral lesions on the initial CT examination have an invariably bad prognosis. They could be taken into account as a potential organ donor from the very moment of admission, but only after cerebral circulatory arrest occurred and brain death has been proved according to internationally accepted standards.