Disseminated intravascular coagulation fibrinolytic syndrome following head injury in children: frequency and prognostic implications.

Eight-seven consecutive children with head injury were evaluated within two hours of injury by clinical examination, by computed tomographic brain images, and for systemic blood clotting disorders. All were treated by a standard regimen and survival rates calculated according to the initial neurologic abnormalities and pathology of the injury. Patients with the more severe neurologic abnormalities and those with more brain tissue destruction had poorer survival rates. However, 71% of all patients had one or more abnormal clotting tests and 32% had the disseminated intravascular coagulation and fibrinolysis syndrome by laboratory criteria. The mortality was over four times greater in those patients with DIC compared to those with normal clotting values. Our findings indicate that minor hemostatic abnormalities are the rule in head-injured children, that DIC occurs in nearly one-third of cases, and that DIC is associated with a marked increase in the mortality after brain injury: DIC may be a treatable secondary effect of head trauma that could decrease the mortality.