[Assessment of the severity of grave cranio-cerebral injury and its outcome according to the state of energy metabolism in the brain].

A dynamic study of the arteriovenous oxygen and lactic acid content difference, as well as a study of the CSF content of the lactic acid in patients with a severe craniocerebral trauma permitted to evaluate the severity of the pathological process and the results of its treatment. A growing production of lactic acid by the brain and its progressive accumulation in the CSF to a high level as 45-50 mg%, and a sharp dissociation between the increasing lactate level in the CSF and its growing concentration in the venous blood flowing from the brain is a prognostic sign of an unfavourable course and outcome of the disease.