RT Book, Section A1 Dhawan, Vikram A1 Ullman, Jamie S. A2 Oropello, John M. A2 Pastores, Stephen M. A2 Kvetan, Vladimir SR Print(0) ID 1136416510 T1 Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injury T2 Critical Care YR 1 FD 1 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9780071820813 LK accessanesthesiology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1136416510 RD 2024/03/29 AB KEY POINTSTraumatic brain injury is primary and secondary. Primary injury is due to the direct impact of the trauma, while secondary is due to hypoxia leading to a cascade of events set off by ischemia/reperfusion. The focus of management is prevention and treatment of secondary injury.Severity of brain injury is assessed both clinically and radiologically. A Glasgow Coma Scale (normal range 3-15) of 13 to 15 is considered mild brain injury, 9 to 12 moderate, and 3 to 8 severe brain injury. The Marshall score using head computed tomography (CT) is also used to predict severity.The CT scan is the fastest and most widely used initial imaging modality available for skull and brain parenchymal lesions. CT angiography and perfusion studies further help to characterize vascular/perfusion deficits.Preventing and treating hypoxia and hypotension to prevent hypoxia and adequate perfusion is of utmost importance.Patients with risk factors for spinal cord injury should be handled with care in the field and their spine stabilized with rigid cervical collars on a board with straps.