Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two acut
e-care management strategies on the frequency of jugular venous desaturatio
n and refractory intracranial hypertension and on long-term neurologic outc
ome in patients with severe head injury.
Design: Randomized clinical trial.
Setting: Level I trauma hospital.
Patients: One hundred eighty-nine adults admitted in coma because of severe
head injury.
Interventions: Patients were assigned to either cerebral blood Row (CBF)-ta
rgeted or intracranial pressure (ICP)-targeted management protocols during
randomly assigned time blacks. In the CBF-targeted protocol, cerebral perfu
sion pressure was kept at >70 mm Hg and PaCO2 was kept at approximately 35
torr (4.67 kPa). In the ICP-targeted protocol, cerebral perfusion pressure
was kept at >50 mm Hg and hyperventilation to a PaCO2 of 25-30 torr (3.33-4
.00 kPa) was used to treat intracranial hypertension,
Measurements and Main Results: The CBF-targeted protocol reduced the freque
ncy of jugular desaturation from 50.6% to 30% (p = .006). Even when the fre
quency of jugular desaturation was adjusted for all confounding factors tha
t were significant, the risk of cerebral ischemia was 2.4-fold greater with
the ICP-targeted protocol. Despite the reduction in secondary ischemic ins
ults, there was no difference in neurologic outcome. Failure to alter long-
term neurologic outcome was probably attributable to two major factors. A l
aw jugular venous oxygen saturation was treated in both groups, minimizing
the injury that occurred in the ICP-targeted group, The beneficial effects
of the CBF-targeted protocol may have been offset by a five-fold increase i
n the frequency of adult respiratory distress syndrome.
Conclusions: Secondary ischemic insults caused by systemic factors after se
vere head injury can be prevented with a targeted management protocol. Howe
ver, potential adverse effects of this management strategy may offset these
beneficial effects.