“What can a trauma surgeon do for a severe head injury?”
My brother just got hit by a car and is in the ICU. A trauma surgeon has been called in to salvage his head injury. What would the treatment involve?
5 Answers
A trauma surgeon can prevent secondary injury after traumatic brain injury. Secondary injury is usually caused by low blood oxygen or low blood pressure, or both. These conditions are usually the result of other injuries, so the trauma surgeon can help the brain injury by treating the other injuries. The head injury may require a craniotomy to remove blood that causes pressure in the brain cavity. That operation is performed by a neurosurgeon.
Hi,
Sorry to hear about your brother's accident/injury. Yes, a trauma surgeon is trained to take care of patients with head injury/trauma. It usually involves close monitoring and management in the ICU with monitors, supporting blood pressure and keeping it in certain parameter's range, sometimes monitoring intra-cranial pressure depending on how severe the head trauma is and if it needs this type of monitoring, sometimes checking brain CT scan and usually having a Neurosurgeon following the patient as well. Sometimes surgery may be needed by the neurosurgeon and sometimes surgery is not needed. Depending on the grade of brain/head injury different amount of time/recovery is needed and it is a process but in time the patient improves usually.
I hope this answered your question to some extent and I wish you and your brother continued and speedy recovery.
Thank you,
DB
Sorry to hear about your brother's accident/injury. Yes, a trauma surgeon is trained to take care of patients with head injury/trauma. It usually involves close monitoring and management in the ICU with monitors, supporting blood pressure and keeping it in certain parameter's range, sometimes monitoring intra-cranial pressure depending on how severe the head trauma is and if it needs this type of monitoring, sometimes checking brain CT scan and usually having a Neurosurgeon following the patient as well. Sometimes surgery may be needed by the neurosurgeon and sometimes surgery is not needed. Depending on the grade of brain/head injury different amount of time/recovery is needed and it is a process but in time the patient improves usually.
I hope this answered your question to some extent and I wish you and your brother continued and speedy recovery.
Thank you,
DB
Nothing.
Most trauma surgeons will help to stabilize the patient with critical head injury to reduce pressure in the brain, etc. However, in the United States, most of these severe head injury patient are definitively managed by a neurosurgeon (brain surgeon) who will determine the best course of action under the circumstances, which may include removing the blood and/or decompression the skill.
Long neurorehab depending on severity of head injury
