Effect of Aqueous Extract of Lettuce on the Outcome of Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury in the Intensive Cares: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death in younger people. It activates neuroinflammatory responses that play an important role in breaking the blood-brain barrier and resulting in brain edema. Various studies have indicated the anti-inflammatory effect and the ability of lettuce extract to reduce oxygen free radicals. Therefore, it is expected to improve the consequences of TBI. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of lettuce extract on the outcomes of patients with TBI admitted to the Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

This is a randomized clinical trial. Patients were divided into two groups of intervention (n=15) and control (n= 15). In the intervention group, patients received 250 g of lettuce aqueous extract twice a day for 7 days. In the control group, a placebo was administered.  For all patients, the levels of inflammatory markers and variables related to the patient outcome were recorded. The data were analyzed in SPSS v.18 software using t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, repeated measures ANOVA, and chi-square test.

There was no significant difference between the study groups in any study variables (P>0.05).

Lettuce aqueous extract is not effective in improving the outcomes of patients with TBI in ICUs, which can be due to the small sample size, short study duration, the illness of patients, the influence of confounding factors such as acidosis, and use of different lettuce cultivation method.