title: Intracranial abnormalities requiring emergency treatment: identification by a single midline tomographic slice versus complete CT of the head.
abstract: We retrospectively reviewed 89 noncontrast computerized tomographic scans of the head in trauma patients to determine whether a single midline image could reliably identify intracranial lesions significant enough to warrant emergency surgery. We found that a midline cut was able to detect 92% of all lesions for which emergency neurosurgical evacuation was considered necessary, though it detected only 71% of the more subtle abnormalities.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medicine Division, St. Louis University Hospital, Mo. 63110-0250.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kraus
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Awwad
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Forney
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D004630:Emergencies; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*