Neither the EEG investigations on the first post-traumatic day after severe enclosed brain injury nor evaluation of the clinical finding on the first day permit a pronosis. Measurement of intracranial pressure is necessary for monitoring of intracranial complications, but can only make a contribution to prognosis when a critical intracranial pressure is reached. There is a slight correlation between the severity of the EEG alteration and the later outcome on the second day. If an alpha EEG is found on the first day, the prognosis in all cases is not so poor as assumed by other authors.