Clinical features and standard treatment of traumatic basicranial artery injury

Objective To summarize the clinical features of traumatic basicranial artery injury and standardize the diagnosis and treatment procedures. Methods Medical records of 315 consecutive patients diagnosed as traumatic basicranial artery injury were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were categorized according to the location and pathological subtypes of the injury. Treatment strategies were based on patients' general situation, structure of the involved arteries, hemodynamic characteristics, alterations of the cerebral blood supply and collateral circulation status. Then the patients were evaluated to help realizing the prognosis of microsurgery, intravascular treatment and conservative treatment respectively. The modified Rankin score (mRS) was used to measure the clinical outcome at follow-up. Results There were 269 patients managed with intravascular treatment, 18 microsurgery and 28 conservative treatment. A total of 283 patients were available to a follow-up of 3 months to 15 years. mRS was 0-2 in 283 patients, 3-5 in 11 patients and 6 in 3 patients. Conclusion Key to successful treatment of traumatic basicranial artery injury depends on standardized diagnosis and treatment procedures. Key words: Skull base; Carotid artery; Vertebral artery; Brain injuries