Surgery in Brain Injury Leads to More Damage?

Traumatic Brain Injury patients, who go through Decompressive Craniectomy surgery face a high risk of mental impairment, conclude Australian researchers after a seven-year long research. The study led by Dr. Jamie Cooper, an intensive care specialist at The Alfred Hospital and Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at Monash University in Melbourne compares the surgery to conventional treatment through a drug-induced coma and reports that the risk of damage is certainly higher with surgery.

Dr. Cooper states that Decompressive Craniectomy controls brain pressure in a dangerously swelled brain with no bleeding, and a patient recovers faster with less time in intensive care.

But the important question being asked is with the high risk of mental impairment, would the procedure be beneficial long-term, and this, the research concludes, cannot be guaranteed at this juncture.