Abstract
Prediction of neurological clinical outcome after acute brain injury is critical because
it helps guide discussions with patients and families and informs treatment plans
and allocation of resources. Numerous clinical grading scales have been published
that aim to support prognostication after acute brain injury. However, the development
and validation of clinical scales lack a standardized approach. This in turn makes
it difficult for clinicians to rely on prognostic grading scales and to integrate
them into clinical practice. In this review, we discuss quality measures of score
development and validation and summarize available scales to prognosticate outcomes
after acute brain injury. These include scales developed for patients with coma, cardiac
arrest, ischemic stroke, nontraumatic intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage,
and traumatic brain injury; for each scale, we discuss available validation studies.
Keywords
clinical grading scales - neuroprognostication - traumatic brain injury - stroke -
cardiac arrest
