Respective contributions of intracranial and extracranial injuries in early coagulopathy occurrence following traumatic brain injury.

Abstract Background Following traumatic brain injury (TBI), coagulopathy on hospital admission is reported in 25–35% of patients and associated with increased morbimortality. The respective contributions of intracranial injury and concomitant extracranial lesions to coagulopathy have been poorly investigated. We hypothesized that the occurrence of post-TBI coagulopathy would not only be related to head injury severity, but also and to a greater extent to the presence and severity of the associated extra-cranial injuries. Methods Observational study from a multicenter prospective French trauma registry (Traumabase®). All adult patients directly admitted to one of the participating centers from January 2012 to December 2021 following TBI (AIS (Abbreviated Injury score) head ≥ 1) were included. Post-TBI coagulopathy was defined by at least 1 of the following criteria: prothrombin ratio (Quick %) < 70% or platelet count < 100 G.L − 1 or fibrinogenemia < 1.5 g.L − 1 on hospital admission. Severe associated extracranial lesions were defined by at least 1 of the extra-head AIS scores ≥ 3. Results Among 33875 patients admitted to 22 trauma centers, 9610 patients had TBI and were analyzed. The overall incidence of admission coagulopathy was 28.5%. Coagulopathic patients were significantly more severely injured and especially more severely head-injured, when compared to non-coagulopathic patients. The higher the AIS head , the higher the proportion of patients exhibiting coagulopathy ( P < 0.001), whatever the presence of extracranial lesions. When compared to patients with AIS head = 1, the increased incidence of coagulopathy with TBI severity was observed at an earlier stage of TBI severity when severe extracranial lesions were present. In multivariable analysis, severe extracranial injury was independently associated with the risk of post-TBI coagulopathy (OR 2.0 (1.8–2.3), P < 0.001). Conclusions A continuously graded association between the severity of head injury and coagulopathy at hospital admission was observed, and this increased incidence of coagulopathy was observed at an earlier stage of TBI severity when severe extracranial lesions were present. The presence of severe extracranial injuries was one of the most important risk factors for coagulopathy following TBI. Intracranial and extra-cranial injury severity could be used to timely identify TBI patients most likely to present post-traumatic coagulopathy, that could benefit from early specific hemostatic resuscitation.