THE COMPUTERISED TOMOGRAPHY SCAN IN MILO ENCEPHALOCRANIAL TRAUMAS: ITS JUSTIFICATION

Abstract

A percentage of patients seeking treatment for mild encephalocranial trauma (CET), with a rating of 14 or 15 on the Glasgow Coma Scale, have traumatic intracranial lesions, which are serious and potentially lethal. The analysis of 83 cases reported between August 2005 and March 2007, at the Centro de Tomografía Computarizada in Crespo, Entre Ríos revealed that, due to the useful information provided by a diagnostic Computerized Tomography (CT) of the brain, its habitual application in cases of mild CET is justifiable because this could lead to reduced mortality in these patients. Inthe series of cases studied, intracranial lesions were found in 13% of the patients, none had a fractured skull. 4% of them had to undergo surgery. None of the patients who had a brain CT after suffering a mild CET died of detected lesions. No patient with a normal CT deteriorated clinically or required surgery in evolution. lt is possible to achieve early detection of these potentially surgical lesions in all patients with mild CET by CT. Radiographs only shows fractures of the skull.