Platelet Administration To Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury Who Were Treated With Aspirin

• efficacy of platelet administration in lowering the rate of early hemorrhagic growth within 6 hours [ Time Frame: 6 hours ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• are lower aspirin doses a risk for early hemorrhagic growth [ Time Frame: 6 hours ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• vascular complications [ Time Frame: within 1 month from platelet admission ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  vascular complications include active ischemic heart disease (MI, unstable angina), ischemic stroke, acute peripheral vasculopathy, deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary emboli these complications will be diagnosed clinically and not by screening procedures.
  
  
• complications attributed to platelets as listed below [ Time Frame: within 1 week ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]

  these complications include an exacerbation of congestive heart failure, or any allergic reaction to platelet admission such as fever, rigor, rash, hemodynamic collapse occuring within 6 hours of platelet admission.

  other events which will be attributed to platelet admission are sepsis <48 hours after platelet admission or new thrombocytopenia occurring within 1 week after admission of platelets.

  
  
• difference in neurological outcome between both groups [ Time Frame: 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year after the traumatic brain injury ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  as evaluated by Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS)
  
  

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a devastating disease with high morbidity and mortality. Although not fully proved, it is commonly accepted that the morbidity and mortality and proportional to the extent of intracranial bleeds (i.e. - larger hemorrhages cause more injury than smaller ones).

Aspirin is a commonly used antiaggregate drug that interferes with the clotting system. The antiaggregate effect may be neutralized by administration of platelets. Thus, potentially, patients receiving Aspirin and undergoing TBI, are at a higher risk for increasing an intracranial bleed.

In this prospective study, we randomize patients receiving aspirin that have a traumatic intracranial bleed to two groups, one - that will receive platelets, and the other that will not receive platelets.

The primary end point of the study is to evaluate the effect of platelet administration of the enlargement of traumatic intracranial bleeds, and try and evaluate any clinical outcome differences between the two groups.