Background: Secondary Brain Insults of Systemic Origin (SBISO) are factors that can aggravate a primary brain injury regardless of its origin (traumatic, vascular, infectious, tumoral, or surgical). The aim was to describe the type and frequency of SBISO occurring after intracranial surgery indicated for intracranial tumors, and to establish the prognosis of patients presenting with these SBISO.

Methods: This was a prospective and descriptive study carried out at the ICU of the Yaoundé Central Hospital between January 1st, 2012 to December 31st, 2019. We enrolled patients operated for intracranial tumors and admitted in the ICU. The variables studied were data from the preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative periods. Data analysis was performed using Epi Info 3.5.4 software. The chi-square test was used, the p-value being considered significant if < 0.05.

Results: 93 patients were included during the period of study. The mean age was 45 ± 17.1 years and a sex- ratio of 1.27. We found 604 SBISO in 70 patients (75.3%). The most common SBISO were hypoxia (44.7%) and hyperglycemia (30%). The risk factors for the occurrence of SBISO were age ≥ 60 years (p=0.02), history of hypertension (p=0.005), patients classified ASA II (p=0.007) and intraoperative complications (p ? 0.001). The occurrence of SBISO was associated with a high mortality risk.

Conclusion: SBISO are common in patients operated for intracranial tumors. Mortality was increased by the presence of SBISO.