Classification of head injury for trauma surgeon and neurosurgeon

Abstract

The new classification of head injury for trauma surgeons and for neurosurgeons was proposed by the working group of the Japanese Association of the Surgical Trauma (JAST) and the Japan Neurotrauma Society (JNTS). The classification was established by the combination of the classification of head injury by Gennarelli and the concept of the Japanese advanced trauma evaluation and care (JATEC), and the guidelines for the treatment and management of severe head injury by JNTS. The classification defines the severity of skull injury, focal brain injury, and diffuse brain injury according to the findings of neurology and CT imaging on admission. The case with the impending herniation signs by neurology and by CT imaging is defined as severe, and has to be treated by neurosurgeon and/or in neurosurgical ICU.

This new classification will be used both by the trauma surgeon working in the emergency room and by the neurosurgeon in the neurointensive care unit or in the operating room.