Cognitive dysfunctions and patterns of recovery after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury.

摘要

Introduction: Severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) leads to a sharp increase in the number of children with severe disabilities. The aim of our study was to find peculiarities of cognitive disorders and patterns of recovery after severe pediatric TBI. Design: longitudinal study. Patients and Methods: 51 children with sTBI(GCS<8) were evaluated with Luria Neuropsychological Battery test for the first six months after sTBI. 13 of them were reevaluated 24 month after the trauma. Results and conclusions: The highest incidence among structural damages belonged to diffuse axonal injuries (DAI) and cortical contusions of the frontal lobs. Executive functions, memory functions and processing speed were damaged most of all. Memory disorders were significantly correlated with diffuse axonal injuries. The longitudinal study has shown that in fact only some components of executive functions have recovered.