title: Usefulness of exploratory burr holes in the management of severe head injury.
abstract: The authors performed burr hole exploration for the diagnosis of intracranial haematomas in 110 consecutive patients with severe head injury. Burr hole revealed extra-axial mass lesions in 61 patients and 49 patients had negative exploration. Post-mortem study showed that only a very few clots were missed by routine burr holes. The study indicated that diagnostic burr hole exploration was a sensitive method for detecting extracerebral mass lesions in centres where CT scanning facilities were not available.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Natarajan
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Asok Kumar
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jawahar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006407:Hematoma, Epidural, Cranial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014207:Trephining