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Introduction: Different hormonal responses may appear in severe head injured patients (including increase in serum Cortisol & GH level). These changes can also be seen in recovery and rehabilitation periods, so influencing the patients, outcome.
Materials and Methods: Forty severely head injured patients, referred to emergency units of Alzahra & Kashani hospitals were studied in a cohort study (selected by convenient sampling) after dividing into two equal groups. Craniotomy was performed for one group and conservative (non-surgical) therapy for the other. In the first and seventh day of admission serum Cortisol and growth hormone were checked (using RIA method). Data was analyzed by paired and student t tests.
Results: There were significant differences between mean of GH in the first and also in the seventh day(both with P<0.05) and between mean of GH and Cortisol from first to seventh day in two study groups(P<0.05). But there were no significant differences between mean of Cortisol in the first or seventh day in two study groups.
Conclusion: Results of this study showed that craniotomy as an independent factor can raise serum GH and Cortisol levels in severely head injured patients.