Overview of systematic reviews: Management of common Traumatic Brain Injury-related complications

Background Many clinical interventions are trialled to manage medical complications following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). However, published evidence for the effects of those clinical interventions is limited. This article is an overview of common complications and their management from published systematic reviews in TBI. Methods and findings A health science electronic database search for published systematic reviews for management of common complications in TBI was conducted in the last decade till 31st January 2021. Methodological quality and evidence were critically appraised using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations and Revised-Assessment of Multiple Systematic review tools. Overall, only six systematic reviews complied with search criteria, these evaluated fatigue, spasticity and post traumatic seizures (29 RCTs, 13 cohort studies, n = 5639 participants). No systematic reviews for other common TBI-related complications met criteria for this review. The included reviews varied from 'moderate to high' in methodological quality. The findings suggest beneficial treatment effect of anti-epileptic drugs (phenytoin/levetiracetam) compared with placebo in reducing early seizure incidence, but no significant benefit of phenytoin over levetiracetam, valproate, or neuroprotective agent for early or late posttraumatic seizures. There was 'limited' evidence for spasticity-related interventions, and 'insufficient' evidence of cardiorespiratory training on fatigue levels. Conclusions Despite the high prevalence and associated functional impact of TBI-related complications, there is limited evidence to guide treating clinicians for management of common TBI complications. More robust studies are needed to build evidence in this population.

Automated summary

There is limited evidence to guide clinicians in managing common complications associated with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). A systematic review of published studies on the management of common TBI complications found that only a few studies met the criteria. The findings suggest that anti-epileptic drugs may be beneficial in reducing seizure incidence, but more research is needed for other TBI-related complications.