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Identifying brain lesions with impaired consciousness

by Medindia Content Team on Oct 23 2002 3:39 PM

According to a new study it is indicative that systolic blood pressure is a good indicator for diagnosing brain lesions in patients with impaired consciousness. This means doctors may now have a better way to estimate patients, as opposed to using expensive and time-consuming imaging technology.

Researchers studied the vital signs of 450 patients who were admitted to an emergency room with impaired consciousness. Of the patients, 221 had brain lesions that led to their condition.

The correlation of vital signs before and after brain lesion diagnosis showed that systolic blood pressure levels was more precise in the determination of brain lesions than diastolic blood pressure levels or pulse rate. Anyhow, the authors feel that compared with those patients without a lesion, those with a lesion had significantly higher systolic blood pressure, higher diastolic blood pressure, and significantly lower pulse rates.

Former studies have tried to show the cause and location of brain lesions that impaired consciousness. They have determined individual factors but have not yielded any practicable results. Brain lesions are more common in coma patients with stroke, brain tumors, epilepsy or meningitis

. The authors say, "Our study justifies the validity of systolic blood pressure for discriminating between patients with impaired consciousness who have a brain lesion and those who do not. Using systolic blood pressure in the diagnosis of impaired consciousness should give both clinical and economical benefits."


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