SNC statement COVID-19

Due to the huge stress on the health care system under the current pandemic COVID-19, situations may occur where limited resources require triage and prioritizing of patient admissions in a manner normally not seen in the Nordic countries. This will also affect patients with acute traumatic brain injury (TBI). Given that COVID-19 infection in older patients and in those with comorbidities, have a potentially higher mortality rate than the TBI itself, and that the risk of infection in hospitals may be increased, the SNC suggests that during this limited period, the Scandinavian adult TBI guidelines should be weighed against the individual risk of a COVID-19 infection. In this situation we support that temporary deviance from the guidelines can be motivated and guided by risk-benefit as outlined in the statement above.

The second edition of the book Management of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury; Evidence, Tricks, and Pitfalls was just published. The new edition is comprehensively updated with major revisions and 17 new chapters. Please visit Springer’s website!

The Scandinavian head injury trial in pediatric patients i.e. “the SHIPP-study” is a pragmatic, prospective, multicentre study for the validation of the Scandinavian guidelines for minor and moderate head trauma in children. The study is actively looking for more hospitals in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark that want to participate. Please send an e-mail to info@shipp.se and we will contact you with more information.

The first EANS Trauma and Critical Care Update Meeting was held in Lund, Sweden, December 13-14, 2018. Please see the conference website with information from the meeting.

The 1st Nordic Neurotrauma Conference was held in Lund, Sweden Nov 13-15th. There were >250 attendees! The SNC has received a lot of positive feedback and we are already planning the next NNC in 2019. Please see the conference website for more details, including several presentations from featured speakers.

The first Nordic Neurotrauma Conference will be held Nov 13-15th 2017 in Lund Sweden. Check out the new webpage.

Today, Andrew Maas, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Antwerp University Hospital andUniversity of Antwerp, and project coordinator of the CENTER-TBIstudy gave an excellent presentation to the SNC members. He presented the current status of the CENTER-TBI study and announced an upcoming special issue of the Lancet Neurology, dedicated to traumatic brain injury.

Anesthesiologist Stig Dyrskog from Aarhus, Denmark, has joined the SNC. Welcome! We look forward to working with you to advance neurotrauma care in the Nordic countries.

Niels Juul and Jacob Springborg have unfortunately resigned from the SNC. Thank you for your valuable contributions over many years. You are welcome back at any time!

The new SNC guidelines for minor and moderate head traumas in children < 18 yoa has been accepted for publication in BMC Medicine. The SNC is now working to develop Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish versions of these guidelines. Contact Ramona Åstrand if you are interested in these guidelines and follow-up studies!