Abstract:Objective To investigate the clinical effects of oxiracetam in the treatment of elderly patients with craniocerebral brain injury, and its effects on inflammation and oxidative stress. Methods A total of 80 elderly patients with cranio-cerebral brain injury were randomly divided into observation group and control group (40 in each group). Both groups received routine treatment based on the patient′s condition, while the observation group received additional oxiracetam once a day for 12 days. ELISA was employed to measure the expression levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), lipoeroxides(LPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total antioxidant capacity (TAOC), and cytokines interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-10, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Meanwhile, the two groups were compared for sober time during treatment and consciousness recovery time. Data were statistically analyzed using GraphPad Prism 5.0. The comparison between the two groups was performed by t/χ2 test. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Log-rank test were also performed. Results Compared with before the treatment, IL-4, IL-10, TAOC and SOD increased significantly, and TNF-ɑ, IL-1β, MDA and LPO decreased significantly (P<0.05) in both groups. After the treatment, SOD and IL-10 in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05), and the MDA was significantly lower than the control group (P<0.05). During the treatment, the recovery rate of consciousness in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group [85.0%(34/40) vs 67.5%(27/40), P<0.05], and the awake time in the former was also significantly longer than that in the latter [(7.56±1.52) vs (5.21±1.49)d, P<0.05]. The survival analysis showed that the survival rates of the observation group was higher than that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant[92.5%(37/40) vs 65.5%(26/40),P<0.05]. Conclusion Oxiracetam is effective for craniocerebral brain injury in the elderly patients, and its mechanism may be related to inhibition of inflammatory reaction and oxidative stress.