Previous studies have shown that vagus nerve stimulation can improve the prognosis of trau-matic brain injury. The aim of this study was to elucidate the mechanism of the neuroprotective effects of vagus nerve stimulation in rabbits with brain explosive injury. Rabbits with brain ex-plosive injury received continuous stimulation (10 V, 5 Hz, 5 ms, 20 minutes) of the right cervical vagus nerve. Tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1βand interleukin-10 concentrations were detected in serum and brain tissues, and water content in brain tissues was measured. Results showed that vagus nerve stimulation could reduce the degree of brain edema, decrease tumor necrosis factor-αand interleukin-1βconcentrations, and increase interleukin-10 concentration after brain explosive injury in rabbits. These data suggest that vagus nerve stimulation may exert neuroprotective effects against explosive injury via regulating the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1βand interleukin-10 in the serum and brain tissue.

Objective:　To compare the outcome of non-operative treatment with the outcome of surgical intraventricular drainage for patients with posttraumatic hydrocephalus including complications, mortality and favorable outcome.　　Methods:　Thirty-nine patients were assigned to a nonoperative treatment group and 38 patents to a surgical intraventricular drainage group. Each patients outcome was evaluated 3 years after treatment by using Glasgow Outcome Scale. 　　Results:　In the nonoperative treatment group the rate of favorable outcome (good recovery or mild disability) was 89.74% (35 of 39 patients) and the mortality was 2.56% (1 of 39 patients). In the surgical intraventricular drainage group the rate of favorable outcome was 71.05% (27 of 38 patients) and the mortality was 13.16% (5 of 38 patients; P<0.05). Mortality was not significantly different between the two groups. 　　Conclusions:　 Nonoperative treatment may be better than surgical intraventricular drainage for patients with posttraumatic hydrocephalus.