Management of pediatric traumatic brain injury.

OPINION STATEMENT: Pediatric severe traumatic brain injury continues to be a major cause of disability and death. Rapid initial airway and hemodynamic stabilization is critical, followed by the need for immediate recognition of intracranial pathology that requires neurosurgical intervention. Intracranial hypertension and cerebral hypoperfusion have been recognized as major insults after trauma and management should be directed at preventing both. Sedation with opioids, moderate hyperventilation to arterial carbon dioxide level of 35-40 mmHg, hyperosmolar therapy with 3 % saline or mannitol, normothermia, and cerebrospinal fluid drainage continue to be the cornerstones of initial management of intracranial hypertension (intracranial pressure >20 mmHg). Refractory intracranial hypertension is treated with high-dose barbiturate therapy to achieve medical burst suppression on electroencephalography and decompressive craniectomy. In addition, those children require antiepileptic medications for seizure prophylaxis, adequate nutritional management, and early physical therapy and rehabilitation referrals. Most of the evidence for care of children with brain injury comes from center-specific practice and experience rather than objective data. This lack of evidence provides the ground for ongoing research; nevertheless, outcomes after traumatic brain injury continue to show improvement.