2009 Volume 31 Issue 2 Pages 139-145
Objective: The number of institutions participating in the Japan Neurotrauma Data Bank was 10 in 1998, but it increased to 19 in 2004. The data of the institutions participating in 1998 and in 2004 were compared.
Methods: The 637 cases in 1998 (1998 group) and the 464 cases in 2004 (2004 group) were reviewed.
Results: There were no significant differences in the distributions of age, gender, and admission Glasgow Coma Scale between the two groups. The most common type of injury was a traffic accident, over 50% in both groups. The most commonly injured was the passenger, while the least commonly injured was the driver. In non-traffic accident cases, the most common injury was a fall in both groups. There were no significant differences in the distributions of the admission injury severity score and the discharge Glasgow Outcome Scale between the two groups. On head CT, more patients had a mass lesion (ML) than diffuse injury. The proportion with ML was higher in the 2004 group than in the 1998 group. Among patients with MLs, there were more evacuated mass lesions (EMLs) than non evacuated mass lesions in both groups. However, the proportion of EMLs and the proportion of skull base fractures were significantly higher in the 2004 group than in the 1998 group.
Conclusion: There were no significant differences in the patients’ background characteristics between the 1998 group and the 2004 group. But, the proportions of patients with mass lesions, evacuated mass lesions, and skull base fractures were higher in the 2004 group than in the 1998 group.
