Short and long-term outcomes of decompressive craniectomy among patients with non-traumatic acute intracranial hypertension; A 5-year retrospective analysis of a referral center

Background: Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is performed for the management of the patients with acutely elevated intracranial pressure (ICP). Considering the paucity of the evidence regarding the outcome predictors in patients with non-traumatic raised ICP, we aimed to assess short- and long-term outcome related factors in DC subjects. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, health records of the patients who underwent DC for non-traumatic etiologies over the five years were interrogated and demographic data, clinical features, operative findings, and follow-up notes were collected. The primary short- and long-term outcomes were in-hospital mortality and functional status, respectively. Functional status was evaluated using Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) at 6-month follow-up. Results: Of the 223 eligible patients, 113 (50.7 %) were male and the mean age was 48.68 ± 13.97 years. In-hospital mortality rate was 48.4 % (n = 108). Of the survivors, 28 (30.4 %) had favorable outcomes (GOS 4–5). The most common post-operative complications were infection with respiratory source (n = 52, 23 %) and external cerebral herniation (n = 61, 27.4 %). Presence of diabetes mellitus (DM) (OR = 6.09; 95 % CI = 2.0–18.51; P = 0.001), subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) (OR = 5.61; 95 % CI = 1.47––21.3; P = 0.01), and prolonged duration of ICU-stay (OR = 1.37; 95 % CI: 1.03, 1.24; P = 0.006) were associated with in-hospital mortality. Also, preexisting DM was two times more prevalent among the subjects deceased in the hospital than those who survived. Conclusions: Concomitant SAH, DM, and prolonged ICU stay were associated with increased in-hospital mortality. In addition, preexisting DM may increase mortality rates, likely irrespective of age factor.