The Impact of Intrahospital Transports on Brain Tissue Metabolism in Patients with Acute Brain Injury.

BACKGROUND: Patients with severe acute brain injury (ABI) often require intrahospital transports (IHTs) for repeated computed tomography (CT) scans. IHTs are associated with serious adverse events (AE) that might pose a risk for secondary brain injury. The goal of this study was to assess IHT-related alterations of cerebral metabolism in ABI patients.

METHODS: We included mechanically ventilated patients with ABI who had continuous multimodality neuromonitoring during an 8-h period before and after routine IHT. Intracranial pressure (ICP), cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), brain tissue oxygenation (PtiO2 ) as well as cerebral and subcutaneous microdialysis parameters (lactate, pyruvate, glycerol, and glutamate) were recorded. Values were compared between an 8-h period before (pre-IHT) and after (post-IHT) the IHT.

RESULTS: A total of 23 IHT for head CT scans in 18 patients were analyzed. Traumatic brain injury (n = 7) was the leading cause of ABI, followed by subarachnoid hemorrhage (n = 6) and intracerebral hemorrhage (n = 5). The analyzed microdialysis parameters in the brain tissue as in the subcutaneous tissue did not show significant changes between the pre-IHT and post-IHT period. In addition, we observed no significant increase in ICP or decrease in CPP and PtiO2 in the 8-h period after IHT.

CONCLUSIONS: While the occurrence of AE during IHT is a known risk factor for ABI patients, our results demonstrate that IHTs do not alter the brain tissue chemistry in a significant manner. This fact may help assess the risk for routine IHT more accurately.