title: Delayed intracranial haemorrhage in head injury.
abstract: To determine the incidence of delayed intracranial haemorrhage and the indication for repeat computed tomography (CT), a one and a half year retrospective study was made. A total of 289 patients had CT scan for head injury of which 78 (26.9%) had multiple scans. Out of these, 5 patients developed delayed haemorrhages (one extradural, one subdural, and three intracerebral haematoma). The incidence of delayed intracranial haemorrhage in our series is small when compared with others. The main predisposing factors are decompressive surgery, hyperventilation and cerebral dehydration therapy. It is important to know when to repeat the CT scan. A review of the literature regarding this aspect is presented and compared with our protocol. Intracranial pressure monitoring plays an increasingly important role in the management of head injury and should be used to decide the patient requiring repeat CT. Follow-up CT without other indication is not necessary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zahari
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mohd Ali
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chandrasekharan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed