When a child suffers a head trauma, medical professionals are in high gear to prevent further damage to a developing brain.
When a child suffers a head trauma, medical professionals are in high gear to prevent further damage to a developing brain. Measuring and regulating the child’s level of carbon dioxide is critical to ensuring the brain is getting enough blood oxygen to prevent a secondary brain injury. High carbon dioxide can increase intracranial pressure, while a low level is associated with poor brain circulation.
The Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center (HIPRC) developed a protocol for a standardized response to these events. The guidelines, released earlier this year, are used at Harborview Medical Center, the region’s Level I pediatric trauma center where about 120 pediatric brain-trauma patients receive care each year.
But there are no guidelines on whether a noninvasive method of measuring carbon dioxide from patients’ exhalations, known as end-tidal capnography, is as effective as drawing blood through a child’s artery.
In a study published Aug. 16 in JAMA, HIPRC researchers answered that clinical question: Measuring the carbon dioxide level through an artery is still the most accurate diagnostic for pediatric brain trauma.
Read more at University of Washington School of Medicine
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
