Prognostic Effect of Optic Nerve Sheath Diameter Measurement in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients Admitted to Emergency Department

Emergency specialists (ESs) are at the forefront of the scene against secondary injury following traumatic brain injury (TBI). In this sense, management strategies used in the emergency department are very important, particularly those taking the Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score as a reference. Patients with neurological injury are at particular risk of intracranial pressure (ICP) increase, which, unless treated appropriately, leads to secondary brain injury that is associated with worse outcomes among patients suffering TBI. Optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) monitoring is a novel method that has gained widespread interest in the emergency medicine society in recent years. Evaluation of ONSD has been used as an alternative tool to determine elevated ICP since the former is directly proportional to intracranial pressure increase. Detecting a raised ICP with ONSD, to determine the prognosis of patients with TBI, and to determine its relationship with other non-invasive, simple tools with a reasonable level of diagnostic accuracy are of great importance, especially for emergency department (ED) physicians working with a great burden of overcrowded ED.

Keywords: traumatic brain injury, emergency department, optic nerve sheath diameter, prognosis.