Impact of hypopituitarism on functional recovery in patients with diffuse axonal injury

• Grant number: 21/11400-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2022
• End date: January 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Wellingson Silva Paiva
• Grantee: Vitor Lauar Pimenta de Figueiredo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Diffuse traumatic brain injury is a type of traumatic brain injury in which there is a generalized axonal lesion in the white matter of the brain, but there are no findings of cranial injuries or bruises on computed tomography. About a third of patients with diffuse axonal injury (DAI) have hypopituitarism, which is associated with more lesions in the midline, deep region, and gray matter junction sites in the brain. There are no consolidated studies evaluating the impacts of hypopituitarism on the prognosis of patients with DAI. Objectives: to assess functional recovery in patients with diffuse traumatic injury with and without hypopituitarism. Material and methods: retrospective cohort study conducted with 235 patients diagnosed with diffuse traumatic brain injury confirmed by computed tomography. Among them, we will compare patients with hypopituitarism and those without hypopituitarism, regarding the prognosis of the disease. We adopted a mean effect size of d=0.05, a 5ü=0.05, 80% study power, and two groups of the same size, reaching a sample of 128 patients. A total of 235 patients were chosen to consider possible data losses and adequacy of eligibility criteria. Expected results: assess the correlation of hypopituitarism with prognosis in patients with DAI. Note which pituitary hormone has the greatest impact on prognosis. Encourage clinical studies on the subject. Publication in specialized literature of scientific medical knowledge.(AU)