Cognitive functions in the acute period of polytrauma and correction of their disorders with thiocetam

Aim of the work – to evaluate the effectiveness of thiocetam as a medicine that prevents cognitive impairments in patients with polytrauma, as well as to compare the scales of cognitive function assessment - MoCA and MMSE. We examined 50 victims with polytrauma without severe intracranial lesions, randomly divided into a control group (26 patients) and a main (24 patients) group. Patients of the control group received conventional intensive therapy for traumatic illness, patients of the main group in addition to this therapy received thiocetam. The somatic status was assessed according to the generally accepted clinical and laboratory indicators. The level of cognitive functions before the injury was assessed by the CFQ questionnaire for 2-3 days after the injury; The MoCA and MMSE scales were used on the 2nd day, when patients were transferred from the intensive care unit and before the discharge. The severity of injury was assessed by the ISS scale. The severity of the response to traumatic stress was assessed by the IES-R scale. In both groups, the baseline level of cognitive function was within the age range. On the second day after the trauma, significant inhibition of cognitive functions in both groups was noted, but in the main group this decrease was un­reliably less. At subsequent stages a gradual increase in both groups was noted, however, in the main group recovery of cognitive functions occurred more rapidly. After 3 months, decrease in cognitive functions preserved at a level when patients were discharged from the hospital. In the main group there were significantly fewer pa­tients whose posttraumatic stress after 3 months increased from minimal to low. When using the MoCA scale, there was a more pronounced decrease in cognitive functions than with the MMSE scale, but it in the less degree consider pecu­liarities of thinking. Thiocetam prevents the decrease of cognitive functions in patients with polytrauma and, due to that, also reduces the severity of posttraumatic stress reaction. For practical using in intensive care units it is preferable to use the MMSE scale.