Question:

Calculate the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of a 25-year-old head injury patient with the following parameters: confused, opening eyes in response to pain, and localizing pain.

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Score E (eyes), V (verbal), M (motor) separately, then add: eyes to pain = 2, confused = 4, localizing = 5.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
  • 6
  • 11
  • 12
  • 7
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is the sum of three components: Best Eye opening (E, score 1-4), Best Verbal response (V, score 1-5), and Best Motor response (M, score 1-6). The total ranges from 3 (deep coma) to 15 (fully alert).
Step 2: Score each parameter for this patient. Eyes open in response to pain gives E = 2. A confused conversation gives V = 4. Localizing pain (purposeful movement toward a noxious stimulus) gives M = 5.
Step 3: Add the components: \(E + V + M = 2 + 4 + 5 = 11\). Hence the GCS is 11, which corresponds to a moderate head injury (GCS 9-12).
Step 4: The distractors arise from mis-scoring. A score of 12 would wrongly assume eye opening to speech (E = 3); 7 would wrongly take no eye opening with a withdrawal motor response; 6 is far too low and would imply almost no responses. Therefore option B (11) is correct.
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