Exploring Time Course of Brain Edema after Cerebral Contusion and Laceration

Objective To explore the evolving and vanishing time of brain edema after contusion and laceration in order to provide the guidance for clinically treating the brain edema. Methods The brain edma were judged according to a CT scan at least every 3 days in 174 patients with cerebral contusion and laceration. The change in the brain edema with the lapse of time were re-corded and analyzed. Results The brain edema in all the patients reached to the peak in 3 days after trauma, but the time of the brain edema peak was different among the patients. The peak of the brain edema lasted 3～5 days in 7 patients, 6～8 days in 34, 9～11 days in 112 and more than 12 days in 21. The time of the brain edema peak were significantly associated with the severity of trauma and brain edema. Conclusion The time of the brain edema peak revealed by the present study were longer than that we knew before in most of the patients with cerebral contusion and laceration; therefore the dehydrating agents should be longer administered and carefully selected according to their condition in the patients with cerebral injury, especially in one with severe brain contusion and laceration.