Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov 21;10(22):5437.
doi: 10.3390/jcm10225437.

Can Cranioplasty Be Considered a Tool to Improve Cognitive Recovery Following Traumatic Brain Injury? A 5-Years Retrospective Study

Francesco Corallo  1 , Viviana Lo Buono  1 , Rocco Salvatore Calabrò  1 , Maria Cristina De Cola  1
Affiliations

Can Cranioplasty Be Considered a Tool to Improve Cognitive Recovery Following Traumatic Brain Injury? A 5-Years Retrospective Study

Francesco Corallo et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Cranioplasty (CP) is a neurosurgical intervention of skull repairing following a decompressive craniectomy. Unfortunately, the impact of cranioplasty on cognitive and motor function is still controversial. Fifteen TBI subjects aged 26-54 years with CP after decompressive craniectomy were selected in this observational retrospective study. As per routine clinical practice, a neuropsychological evaluation carried out immediately before the cranioplasty (Pre CP) and one month after the cranioplasty (T0) was used to measure changes due to CP surgery. This assessment was performed each year for 5 years after discharge in order to investigate long-term cognitive changes (T1-T5). Before cranioplasty, about 53.3% of subjects presented a mild to severe cognitive impairment and about 40.0% a normal cognition. After CP, we found a significant improvement in all neuropsychological test scores. The more significant differences in cognitive recovery were detected after four years from CP. Notably, we found significant differences between T4 and T0-T1, as well as between T5 and T0-T1-T2 in all battery tests. This retrospective study further suggests the importance of CP in the complex management of patients with TBI showing how these patients might improve their cognitive function over a long period after the surgical procedure.

Keywords: cognitive improvement; cranioplasty; neuropsychology; traumatic brain injury.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Boxplot of differences between times (T) for each neurophysiological test. T indicates the different time points.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rossini Z., Nicolosi F., Kolias A., Hutchinson P.J., De Sanctis P., Servadei F. The History of Decompressive Craniectomy in Traumatic Brain Injury. Front. Neurol. 2019;10:458. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00458. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brown D., Wijdicks E. Decompressive craniectomy in acute brain injury. Cerebellum Embryol. Diagn. Investig. 2017;140:299–318. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-444-63600-3.00016-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Champeaux C., Weller J. Long-Term Survival After Decompressive Craniectomy for Malignant Brain Infarction: A 10-Year Nationwide Study. Neurocritical Care. 2019;32:522–531. doi: 10.1007/s12028-019-00774-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barthélemy E.J., Melis M., Gordon E., Ullman J.S., Germano I.M. Decompressive Craniectomy for Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review. World Neurosurg. 2016;88:411–420. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2015.12.044. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Corallo F., De Cola M.C., Lo Buono V., Marra A., De Luca R., Trinchera A., Bramanti P., Calabrò R.S. Early vs late cra-nioplasty: What is better? Int. J. Neurosci. 2017;127:688–693. doi: 10.1080/00207454.2016.1235045. - DOI - PubMed