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

## TL;DR

This scoping review aims to explore innovative external medical prototypes for patients who have undergone decompressive craniectomy and are waiting for cranioplasty.

## Contribution

The study introduces a systematic approach to evaluate noninvasive devices aimed at improving outcomes for craniectomy patients.

## Key findings

- The review will assess the extent of evidence on external prototypes for craniectomy patients.
- It will include data from multiple databases and patent sources to cover global innovations.
- The findings will support the development of cost-effective solutions for low- and middle-income countries.

## Abstract

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

DERR1-10.2196/50647