BackgroundThe article introduces Programs for Injury Categorization, using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and R statistical software (ICDPIC-R). Starting with ICD-8, methods have been described to map injury diagnosis codes to severity scores, especially the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and Injury Severity Score (ISS). ICDPIC was originally developed for this purpose using Stata, and ICDPIC-R is an open-access update that accepts both ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes.MethodsData were obtained from the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB), Admission Year 2015. ICDPIC-R derives CDC injury mechanism categories and an approximate ISS (“RISS”) from either ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes. For ICD-9-coded cases, RISS is derived similar to the Stata package (with some improvements reflecting user feedback). For ICD-10-coded cases, RISS may be calculated in several ways: The “GEM” methods convert ICD-10 to ICD-9 (using General Equivalence Mapping tables from CMS) and then calculate ISS with options similar to the Stata package; a “ROCmax” method calculates RISS directly from ICD-10 codes, based on diagnosis-specific mortality in the NTDB, maximizing the C-statistic for predicting NTDB mortality while attempting to minimize the difference between RISS and ISS submitted by NTDB registrars (ISSAIS). Findings were validated using data from the National Inpatient Survey (NIS, 2015).ResultsNTDB contained 917,865 cases, of which 86,878 had valid ICD-10 injury codes. For a random 100,000 ICD-9-coded cases in NTDB, RISS using the GEM methods was nearly identical to ISS calculated by the Stata version, which has been previously validated. For ICD-10-coded cases in NTDB, categorized ISS using any version of RISS was similar to ISSAIS; for both NTDB and NIS cases, increasing ISS was associated with increasing mortality. Prediction of NTDB mortality was associated with C-statistics of 0.81 for ISSAIS, 0.75 for RISS using the GEM methods, and 0.85 for RISS using the ROCmax method; prediction of NIS mortality was associated with C-statistics of 0.75–0.76 for RISS using the GEM methods, and 0.78 for RISS using the ROCmax method. Instructions are provided for accessing ICDPIC-R at no cost.ConclusionsThe ideal methods of injury categorization and injury severity scoring involve trained personnel with access to injured persons or their medical records. ICDPIC-R may be a useful substitute when this ideal cannot be obtained.

ObjectiveTo examine the clinical and neurological outcome of patients who sustained a severe non-penetrating traumatic brain injury (TBI) and underwent unilateral decompressive craniectomy (DC) for refractory intracranial hypertension.DesignSingle center, retrospective, observational.SettingLevel I Trauma Center in Portland, Maine.Patients31 patients aged 16–72 of either sex who sustained a severe, non-penetrating TBI and underwent a unilateral DC for evacuation of parenchymal or extra-axial hematoma or for failure of medical therapy to control intracranial pressure (ICP).InterventionsReview of the electronic medical record of patients undergoing DC for severe TBI and assessment of extended Glasgow Outcome Score (e-GOS) at 6-months following DC.Measurements and main resultsThe mean age was 39.3y ± 14.5. The initial GCS was 5.8 ± 3.2, and the ISS was 29.7 ± 6.3. Twenty-two patients underwent DC within the first 24 h, two within the next 24 h and seven between the 3rd and 7th day post injury. The pre-DC ICP was 30.7 ± 10.3 and the ICP was 12.1 ± 6.2 post-DC. Cranioplasty was performed in all surviving patients 1–4 months post-DC. Of the 29 survivors following DC, the e-GOS was 8 in seven patients, and 7 in ten patients. The e-GOS was 5–6 in 6 others. Of the 6 survivors with poor outcomes (e-GOS = 2–4), five were the initial patients in the series.ConclusionsIn patients with intractable cerebral hypertension following TBI, unilateral DC in concert with practice guideline directed brain resuscitation is associated with good functional outcome and acceptable-mortality.