Cerebral retraction is frequently required in cranial surgery to access deep areas. Brain retractors have been systematically used in the past, but they have been associated with brain injury. Nonetheless, they are still used and, even recently, new systems have been advocated. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic and critical review of brain retraction injury. A systematic literature review was performed in February 2023 according to PRISMA statement. Search terms included brain retraction and injury, with their variations and pertinent associations. Studies reporting qualitative and quantitative data on brain retraction injury were included. Out of 1689 initially retrieved articles, 90 and 26 were included in the systematic review for qualitative and quantitative data, respectively. The definition of brain retraction injury varies and its reported incidence in clinical studies is 5-10%, up to 47% if cerebral edema is considered. Some studies have hypothesized threshold values of pressures to be respected in order to prevent complications, with most data deriving from animal studies. At present, there are no instruments for brain retraction that can guarantee full safety. Some form of cerebral retraction might always be necessary for specific scenarios. Further studies are needed to collect quantitative and, ideally, clinical and comparative data on pressure thresholds to develop retraction systems that can reduce injury to a minimum.
Keywords: Brain retraction; Retraction complications; Retraction injury; Spatulas; Surgical retractors; Tubular retractors.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.