Prostacyclin treatment in severe traumatic brain injury : a microdialysis and outcome study

Prostacyclin (PGI2) is a potent vasodilator, inhibitor of leukocyte adhesion, and platelet aggregation. In trauma the balance between PGI2 and thromboxane A2 (TXA2) is shifted towards TXA2. External provided PGI2 would, from a theoretical and experimental point of view, improve the microcirculation in injured brain tissue. This study is a prospective consecutive double blinded randomised study on the effect of PGI2 versus placebo in severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI). All patients with sTBI were eligible. Inclusion criteria: verified sTBI, Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) at intubation and sedation ≤8, age 15 - 70 years, a first recorded cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) of ≥ 10mmHg, and arrival within 24h of trauma. All subjects received an intra-cranial pressure (ICP) measuring device, bilateral intracerebral microdialysis catheters, and a microdialysis catheter in the abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue. Subjects were treated according to an ICP targeted therapy based on the Lund concept. 48 patients, mean age of 35.5 years, and a median GCS 6 (3-8) were included. We found no significant effect of epoprostenol on either the lactate pyruvate ratio (L/P) at 24 hours or the brain glucose levels. There was no significant difference in clinical outcome between the two groups. The median Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) at 3 months was 4, and mortality was 12.5%. The favourable outcome (GOS 4-5) was 52%. The initial L/P did not prognosticate for outcome. Thus our results indicate that there is no effect of PGI2 at a dose of 0.5 ng/kg/min on brain L/P, brain glucose levels or outcome at 3 months. The treatment seemed to yield a high number of favourable outcome and low mortalit