Innovative Solutions for Patients Who Undergo Craniectomy: Protocol for a Scoping Review

Laura L Fernandez; Dylan Griswold; Isla Khun; Diana Victoria Rodriguez De Francisco

doi:10.2196/50647

Innovative Solutions for Patients Who Undergo Craniectomy: Protocol for a Scoping Review

JMIR Res Protoc. 2024 Mar 7:13:e50647. doi: 10.2196/50647.

Authors

Laura L Fernandez^#¹, Dylan Griswold^#^{2

3}, Isla Khun^#⁴, Diana Victoria Rodriguez De Francisco^#^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Clinical & Translational Science Institute and Center for Global Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
² NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
³ Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
⁴ University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
⁵ University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, United States.
⁶ Universidad Metropolitana, Caracas, Venezuela.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38451601
PMCID: PMC10958337
DOI: 10.2196/50647

Abstract

Background: Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is a widely used procedure to alleviate high intracranial pressure. Multidisciplinary teams have designed and implemented external medical prototypes to improve patient life quality and avoid complications following DC in patients awaiting cranioplasty (CP), including 3D printing and plaster prototypes when available.

Objective: This scoping review aims to understand the extent and type of evidence about innovative external prototypes for patients who undergo DC while awaiting CP.

Methods: This scoping review will use the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews. This scoping review will include noninvasive medical devices for adult patients who undergo DC while waiting for CP. The search strategy will be implemented in MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, Scielo, Scopus, and the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Index Medicus. Patent documents were also allocated in Espacenet, Google Patents, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) database.

Results: This scoping review is not subject to ethical approval as there will be no involvement of patients. The dissemination plan includes publishing the review findings in a peer-reviewed journal and presenting results at conferences that engage the most pertinent stakeholders in innovation and neurosurgery.

Conclusions: This scoping review will serve as a baseline to provide evidence for multidisciplinary teams currently designing these noninvasive innovations to reduce the risk of associated complications after DC, hoping that more cost-effective models can be implemented, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

International registered report identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/50647.

Keywords: craniectomy; cranioplasty; decompressive craniectomy; global neurosurgery; increased intracranial pressure; innovative; innovative solutions; intellectual property; intracranial pressure; low-income countries; medical devices; middle-income countries; noninvasive; prototypes; stroke; traumatic brain injury.

©Laura L Fernandez, Dylan Griswold, Isla Khun, Diana Victoria Rodriguez De Francisco. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 07.03.2024.