Functional outcome of individuals with traumatic brain injury and lower extremity deep venous thrombosis

Objective: To determine the impact of acute lower extremity (LE) deep venou s thrombosis (DVT) on functional outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) . Setting: Tertiary university medical center rehabilitation unit. Subjects : Ninety-two TBI rehabilitation patients (46 patients with DVT and 46 patie nts without DVT). Forty-six TBI patients with a diagnosis of LE DVT were 1: 1 matched with non-DVT TBI patients. Watching criteria included: primary di agnosis of TBI, admission Functional Independence Measure (FIM), Glasgow Co ma Scale (GCS), and age. Outcome Measures: FLU (admission, discharge, chang e, and efficiency), FLU subscores (activities of daily living [ADL], mobili ty, cognition), length of stay ([LOS] acute and rehabilitation), and discha rge living disposition. Design: Cohort study utilizing prospectively collec ted data. DVT diagnoses were made upon rehabilitation admission using color flow duplex Doppler ultrasonography. Descriptive statistics were run on de mographic variables. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed on the sa mple with regard to outcome measures, including FLU scores, FIM subscores, and LOS (acute and rehabilitation). Results: No significant between-group d ifferences were found concerning LOS, rehabilitation costs, FIM total, or F IM subgroup scores. Chi-squared analyses revealed significant differences b etween groups with regard to discharge living disposition (chi(2) = 4.7, P < .03). Conclusion: Lower extremity DVT does not appear to interfere with f unctional outcome after TBI. The data suggest that this patient population is appropriate for admission or continued participation in acute inpatient rehabilitation, despite the presence of LE DVT.