Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis in traumatic intracranial haematoma.
Out of 51 patients with traumatic intracranial haematoma admitted to a teaching hospital 11 (22%) died undiagnosed, and out of 307 such patients transferred to the West of Scotland Regional Neurosurgical Centre 111 (36%) had been deteriorating for more than 12 hours in another hospital. In two-thirds of these cases the delay was due to an erroneous diagnosis, either of cerebrovascular accident or of alcoholic intoxication.
D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000175:diagnosis; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D003244:Consciousness Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D006406:Hematoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006408:Hematoma, Subdural / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000175:diagnosis