| Title | Value of repeat cranial computed axial tomography scanning in patients with minimal head injury. | | Author(s) | Sifri ZC, Livingston DH, Lavery RF, Homnick AT, Mosenthal AC, Mohr AM, Hauser CJ | | Institution | Division of Trauma, Department of Surgery, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, University Hospital M-243, 150 Bergen St., Newark, NJ 07103, USA. | | Source | Am J Surg 2004 Mar; 187(3):338-42. | | MeSH | Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Cohort Studies
Comparative Study
Confidence Intervals
Craniocerebral Trauma
Critical Care
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Glasgow Coma Scale
Humans
Injury Severity Score
Male
Middle Aged
Neurologic Examination
Neurosurgical Procedures
Probability
Retrospective Studies
Risk Assessment
Sensitivity and Specificity
Time Factors
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Trauma Centers
Triage
| | Abstract | BACKGROUND: Patients with minimal head injury (MHI) and a cranial computed axial tomography (CAT) scan positive for the presence of intracranial injury routinely undergo a repeat CAT scan within 24 hours after injury. The value of this repeat cranial CAT scan is unclear in those patients who are neurologically normal or improving.
METHODS: A retrospective analysis of all adult patients admitted to a level-1 trauma center with MHI and a positive cranial CAT scan during a 32-month period was performed. The need for neurosurgical intervention after repeat CAT scan in patients with a persistently normal or improved neurological examination was recorded.
RESULTS: One hundred fifty-one patients had a persistently normal or improved neurological examination, but none of these patients required neurosurgical intervention after the repeat cranial CAT scan.
CONCLUSIONS: A persistently normal or improving neurological examination in a patient with MHI appears to exclude the need for neurosurgical intervention and thus a repeat cranial CAT scan. | | Language | eng | | Pub Type(s) | Journal Article
| | PubMed ID | 15006561 |
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