title: Radiologic assessment of head trauma.
abstract: We have endeavored through the use of an actual clinical scenario to emphasize that reliance on skull radiographs for assessing the acutely traumatized patient is both unwarranted and unwise. Not only are these films fundamentally useless, but they have the potential to lull us into a false sense of security. A negative skull examination cannot and does not imply that the brain substance is normal. If there is a legitimate indication for any examination, that examination should be computed tomography. To reinforce this notion, we offer for your consideration the following algorithm for the management of head trauma (Table 1: see text).
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012886:Skull / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed