Isolated traumatic brain injury as a cause of early coagulopathy – Case Report

Authors

  • Rafael Marques Pires

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25751/rspa.9873

Keywords:

Traumatic brain injury, Coagulopathy, Thromboelastometry

Abstract

Trauma induced coagulopathy has been reported in cases of isolated traumatic brain injury. We report a case where thromboelastometry (ROTEM®) was the only warning sign of the ensuing coagulopathy.

A 77 years-old female, fell down multiple stairs. Assisted on scene, she was intubated and transported to the emergency department. Head computed tomography showed an acute subdural hematoma. No other trauma injury or signs of active bleeding were identified on admission, but a blood sample for ROTEM® was collected. During craniotomy she developed hemodynamic instability, as well as signs of coagulopathy.  First ROTEM® showed absence of clot formation and transfusion therapy was started. There was clinical improvement, and a post-transfusion ROTEM® showed improved clot formation. Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, the patient died 24 hours after the initial neurologic injury.

Early identification of coagulopathy associated with trauma is crucial, which can contribute to an improved  outcome. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Published

2018-02-10

How to Cite

Pires, R. M. (2018). Isolated traumatic brain injury as a cause of early coagulopathy – Case Report. Journal of the Portuguese Society of Anesthesiology, 26(3). https://doi.org/10.25751/rspa.9873

Issue

Vol. 26 No. 3 (2017): Revista da Sociedade Portuguesa de Anestesiologia

Section

Case Report

License

Articles are freely available to be read, downloaded and shared from the time of publication.

The RSPA reserves the right to commercialize the article as an integral part of the journal (in the preparation of reprints, for example). The author should accompany the submission letter with a declaration of copyright transfer for commercial purposes.

Articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC BY-NC).

After publication in RSPA, authors are allowed to make their articles available in repositories of their home institutions, as long as they always mention where they were published.