SynthesisThe Journal of international medical research2018
Early or late cranioplasty following decompressive craniotomy for traumatic brain injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in The Journal of international medical research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early Versus Delayed Cranioplasty After Decompressive Craniectomy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Brain and behavior · 2026Pooled it
- Optimal timing of cranioplasty post-decompressive craniectomy in traumatic brain injury: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and overview of ongoing trials.Acta neurochirurgica · 2026Pooled it
- Timing and Outcomes of Cranioplasty After Decompressive Craniectomy: A Systematic Review of Neurological Recovery, Complications, and Predictive Factors.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Management and outcomes of craniectomy and cranioplasty in pediatric intracranial infections: a multicenter cohort study.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2026Observational
- A Causal and interpretable machine learning framework for postcranioplasty risk prediction and surgical decision support.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Factors associated with complication of cranioplasty: CT-based risk assessment for early failure of autologous-bone cranioplasty.Neurosurgical review · 2026Article
- Collapse Ratio and Operative Duration as Key Predictors of Postoperative Complications Following Cranioplasty.Cureus · 2025Article
- Cranioplasty complications in severe traumatic brain injury: implications of timing of surgery, implant material and incidence of vetriculomegaly versus Post-Traumatic hydrocephalus.Neurosurgical review · 2025Observational
- Comparison of Complications in Early and Late Cranioplasty Following Decompressive Craniectomy Due to Traumatic Brain Injury: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Impact of Perioperative Acetylsalicylic Acid (ASA) Administration on Postoperative Intracranial Hemorrhage (pICH) and Thromboembolic Events in Patients with Intracranial Meningiomas.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- The improvement of fibrinogen, Ang-1, VEGF, BDNF in post-operative patients with brain trauma through target task-oriented phase training.Journal of medical biochemistry · 2024Article
- Impact of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms on Severe Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation: An Observational Study.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Decompressive craniectomy to cranioplasty: a retrospective observational study using Hospital Episode Statistics in England.BMJ surgery, interventions, & health technologies · 2024Article
- Risk Factors for External Ventricular Drainage-Related Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Neurology. Clinical practice · 2023Review
- When the practice does not meet the theory: results from an Italian survey on the clinical and pathway management of inpatients with decompressive craniectomy or cranioplasty admitted to rehabilitation.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine · 2023Article
- Post-traumatic decompressive craniectomy: Prognostic factors and long-term follow-up.Surgical neurology international · 2023Article
- Outcomes and Associated Complications of Cranioplasty following Craniectomy in Brunei Darussalam.Asian journal of neurosurgery · 2022Article
- Ultra-Early Cranioplasty versus Conventional Cranioplasty: A Retrospective Cohort Study at an Academic Level 1 Trauma Center.Neurotrauma reports · 2022Article
- Cranioplasty Following Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: Role in Neurorecovery.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2021Review
- Improvement in neurological outcome and brain hemodynamics after late cranioplasty.Acta neurochirurgica · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of early (<3 months) cranioplasty (CP) and late CP (>3 months) on post-operative complications in patients receiving decompressive craniotomy (DC) for traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods The Cochrane Library, PubMed and EMBASE databases were systematically searched for studies published prior to May 21, 2017. A meta-analysis examined post-operative overall complication rates, infection rates, subdural fluid collection and operating times according to early and late CP. Results Of the initial 1675 references, five studies, all cohort, involving a total of 413 patients, were selected for the review. There was no difference between early and late CP in post-operative overall complication rate (RR=0.68, 95%CI [0.36, 1.29]) and the post-operative infection rate (RR=0.50, 95%CI [0.20, 1.24]) in patients receiving DC for TBI. However, there was a significant difference in post-operative subdural effusion (RR=0.24, 95%CI [0.07, 0.78]) and mean operative time (mean difference = -33.02 min, 95%CI [-48.19, -17.84]) both in favour of early CP. Conclusions No differences were found between early and late CP in post-operative overall complications and procedural related infections in patients receiving DC for TBI, but early CP reduced the complication of subdural effusion and the mean operating time. These findings need to be confirmed by large, randomised controlled trials.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.