Management of arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the first week after traumatic brain injury: results from the CENTER-TBI study
Giuseppe Citerio, Chiara Robba, Paola Rebora, Matteo Petrosino, Eleonora Rossi, Letterio Malgeri, Nino Stocchetti, Stefania Galimberti, David Menon, Cecilia Åkerlund, Krisztina Amrein, Nada Anđelić, Lasse Andreassen, Audny Anke, Anna Antoni, Gérard Audibert, Philippe Azouvi, Maria Luisa Azzolini, Ronald Bartels, Pál Barzó, Romuald Beauvais, Ronny Beer, Bo‐Michael Bellander, Antonio Belli, Habib Benali, Maurizio Berardino, Luigi Beretta, Morten Blaabjerg, Peter Bragge, Alexandra Bražinová, Vibeke Brinck, Joanne Brooker, Camilla Brorsson, András Büki, Monika Bullinger, Manuel Cabeleira, Alessio Caccioppola, Emiliana Calappi, Maria Rosa Calvi, Peter Cameron, Guillermo Carbayo Lozano, Marco Carbonara, Simona Cavallo, Giorgio Chevallard, Arturo Chieregato, Hans Clusmann, Mark Coburn, Jonathan Coles, Jamie D. Cooper, Marta Correia, Amra Čović, Nicola Curry, Endre Czeiter, Marek Czosnyka, Claire Dahyot‐Fizelier, Paul Dark, Helen Dawes, Véronique De Keyser, Vincent Degos, Françesco Della Corte, Hugo den Boogert, Bart Depreitere, Đula Đilvesi, Abhishek Dixit, Emma Donoghue, Jens P. Dreier, Guy‐Loup Dulière, Ari Ercole, Patrick Esser, Erzsébet Ezer, Martin Fabricius, Valery L. Feigin, Kelly Foks, Shirin Frisvold, Alex Furmanov, Pablo Gagliardo, Damien Galanaud, Dashiell Gantner, Guoyi Gao, Pradeep George, Alexandre Ghuysen, Lelde Giga, Ben Glocker, Jagoš Golubović, Pedro A. Gómez, Johannes Gratz, Benjamin Gravesteijn, Francesca Grossi, Russell L. Gruen, Deepak Gupta, Juanita A. Haagsma, Iain Haitsma, Raimund Helbok, Eirik Helseth, Lindsay Horton, Jilske Huijben, Peter J. Hutchinson, Bram Jacobs, Stefan Jankowski, Mike Jarrett
Abstract
To describe the management of arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) in severe traumatic brain-injured (TBI) patients, and the optimal target of PaCO2 in patients with high intracranial pressure (ICP). Secondary analysis of CENTER-TBI, a multicentre, prospective, observational, cohort study. The primary aim was to describe current practice in PaCO2 management during the first week of intensive care unit (ICU) after TBI, focusing on the lowest PaCO2 values. We also assessed PaCO2 management in patients with and without ICP monitoring (ICPm), and with and without intracranial hypertension. We evaluated the effect of profound hyperventilation (defined as PaCO2 < 30 mmHg) on long-term outcome. We included 1100 patients, with a total of 11,791 measurements of PaCO2 (5931 lowest and 5860 highest daily values). The mean (± SD) PaCO2 was 38.9 (± 5.2) mmHg, and the mean minimum PaCO2 was 35.2 (± 5.3) mmHg. Mean daily minimum PaCO2 values were significantly lower in the ICPm group (34.5 vs 36.7 mmHg, p < 0.001). Daily PaCO2 nadir was lower in patients with intracranial hypertension (33.8 vs 35.7 mmHg, p < 0.001). Considerable heterogeneity was observed between centers. Management in a centre using profound hyperventilation (HV) more frequently was not associated with increased 6 months mortality (OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 0.77–1.45, p value = 0.7166), or unfavourable neurological outcome (OR 1.12, 95% CI = 0.90–1.38, p value = 0.3138). Ventilation is manipulated differently among centers and in response to intracranial dynamics. PaCO2 tends to be lower in patients with ICP monitoring, especially if ICP is increased. Being in a centre which more frequently uses profound hyperventilation does not affect patient outcomes.