Background: Elderly trauma patients present unique challenges and face  more  significant obstacles in  recovery  than  their younger  counterparts. They usually experience higher morbidity and mortality and slower recovery trajectories and have, on average, worse functional, cognitive, and psychosocial outcomes months or years post-injury than do younger patients.Methods: Authors conducted a study of elderly head injury patients to understand the epidemiology of geriatric TBI, the impact of comorbidities and management issues and  outcomes in such patients. Authors had a total of 110 patients who presented with traumatic brain injury and were admitted in this hospital over 2 years. Authors also reviewed the literatures to study the factors affecting outcome after geriatric TBI and studied the role of aggressive neurosurgical management in geriatric TBI.Results: Among 68%(n=75) of the patients were male and 32% females. Age group of 60-65 years was the highest with 60.9% patients. Patients with GCS of 8 and below had the highest mortality rates of 68 %. Overall  mortality  rate  was  32.72%  and  9.09 %  of  the patients survived in a vegetative condition. The proportion of injury secondary to fall was the largest single group in 50.9% patients, and Chronic SDH was the most common pathology seen in 36.45 % patients. Highest mortality was seen in patients with Diffuse Axonal Injury (69.23 %). Out of the 110 patients , 57 patients underwent surgery for various pathologies. Chronic SDH were the most common operated pathology followed by acute SDH. Glassgow outcome scale was used as the measure of outcome in these series of patients.  32.72 % patients had a GOS score of 1 and 9.09 % had a score of 2. 18.18 % patients remained severely disabled with a score of 3 and nine patients (8.18 %) had a score of 4 and thirty five patients had good recovery (GOS-5).Conclusions: Due to the better treatment options there is an increase in the number of elderly around the world. Thus, the number of eldery individuals presenting with TBI to the emergency department is also on the rise more commonly due to falls than road traffic accidents. There is a need for specific prognostic and management guidelines for the elderly which can lead to better diagnosis, care and recovery and eventual short- and long-term outcomes in the elderly.

Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is a type of brain injury due to extensive lesions in white matter tract occurring over a wide area. It is one of the most common and devastating types of traumatic brain injury and major cause of unconsciousness and persistent vegetative state after head trauma. DAI occurs in about half of all cases of severe head trauma. The study was undertaken to correlate the GCS at time of admission and Grade of DAI with the outcome. Aim: - To correlate GCS Score and MRI grading with the outcome in DAI patients. Setting and Design: - A 3 months prospective study was conducted in Department of Neurosurgery. Material and Method: - Sources of Data: - Patients admitted with clinical diagnosis of Diffuse Axonal Injury under Department of Neurosurgery. Sample size: - 50 cases of Diffuse Axonal Injury. Inclusion Criteria: - All traumatic DAI Patients requiring ICU care. Exclusion Criteria: - Head injury patients requiring Surgery. Patients other findings on imaging as contusion, EDH, SDH, IVH.Patients with Sepsis. Patients with other co morbid Illness as DM, Hypertension. Patients who were haemodynamically unstable at the time of admission. Patients with other systemic injuries. Statistical Analysis. Data so collected was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics Windows, version 20.0 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp) for the generation of descriptive and inferential statistics. The statistical significant difference among age groups was determined by Chi square test and one way analyses of variance. The level of significance was set at p˂0.05. Results: Distribution of patients according to Gender and MRI Grading shown in Table 1. Total 50 patients were evaluated out of which 38 (76%) were male and 12 (24%) were female. Number of patients according to Grading [Table 2 and Fig. 1] Out of 50 patients admitted 10% (5) constitutes Grade 1 DAI, 28% (14) grade II, and 62% (31) Grade III. Grades of DAI according to age of patients [Table 3]. Mean age in Grade I patients was 20.83±3.63, Grade II 23.36±7.089 and in Grade III 22.32±11.38. Comparisons of Mean ICU stay Mean Hospital stay and Mortality in Different GCS Groups [Table 4]. In patients with GCS 3-8 the mean ICU stay was 18.48±14.53, mean hospital stay was 37.24±12.31 and Mortality was 15.21%, in patients with GCS 9-12, mean ICU stay was 10.5±4.12, Hospital stay 19.4±5.79 and mortality was 25%. Comparison of Mean ICU stay, and Ventilator stay in different MRI Grade [Table 5]. In patients with Grade I DAI Mean ICU stay was 17.13±14.65 and Mean Ventilator stay was 6.24±2.57, In Grade II DAI mean ICU stay was 20.57±15.45 and Ventilator stay was 12.01±3.82 and in Grade III mean ICU stay was 23.4±15.41 and mean Ventilator stay was 10.89±2.58. Mortality of patients in different Grades and GCS groups [Table 6 and Fig 2] In patients with GCS 9-12 and Grade III only 1 patient died, while in patients with GCS 3- 8 total 7 died, 2 in Grade I, 2 in Grade II and 3 in Grade III. Complications [Table 7] Out of 5 patients in Grade I, electrolyte imbalance was seen in 1 patient in the form of hypernatraemia, 1 patient developed seizure, and septicaemia was seen in 1 and 1 patient developed shock. In patients with Grade II DAI out of 14 patients 1 had ventilator associated pneumonia, hypernatraemia was seen in 1, 1patient developed bed sore, seizures seen in 3, 2 had septicaemia & shock was seen in 2, and in 1drug reaction occurred. Out of 31 patients with Grade III DAI 2 developed ventilator associated pneumonia, hypernatraemia and hyponatraemia was seen in 2 & 1 patient respectively, 2 developed bedsore, seizure in 1 and septicaemia and shock was seen in 3-3 patients. Conclusion:-Diffuse axonal injury is a very common finding in traumatic head injury patients. Magnetic resonance imaging and GCS scoring does not have appropriate prognostic value in pure DAI patients and a better survival rate can be achieved with dedicated neurocritical care and neurosurgical management.