title: [Pediatric head injuries: a retrospective analysis of 280 patients.].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To assess etiological factors, clinical features, radiological findings and recovery rates in pediatric head injuries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients (n =280) with head injuries (age range: 0 - 16 years) hospitalized in Trakya University Department of Neurosurgery between January 1995 and 2004 were analyzed statistically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) the patients had minor (GCS: 13- 15 ; 70.1% ), moderate (GCS: 9- 12; 17,1% ), or severe (GCS: 3 to 8; 6,8% ). head injuries The most common etiological factor was fall from a height (34,3%); and the most frequently associated injury was extra-spinal skeletal injury (12,9%). Fifty-one patients (18,2%) underwent neurosurgical operation. 87.5% of them recovered completely, while 12,5% showed partial recovery or died, as graded by Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS). There was a moderately strong correlation between initial GCS and GOS (r=0,53, p=0,01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nearly half of the pediatric head injuries were caused by falls with good prognoses. In the school age, motor vehicle accident (MVA) was the most frequent trauma type. MVA was the most serious type of trauma as demonstrated by its low GCS and GOS scores. Polytraumas, subdural hematomas, cerebral contusions, subarachnoid or intracerebral hemorrhages, cerebral edemas, diffuse axonal injuries, and any cranial lesion which required surgery were found to be related with poor prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Departments of Neurosurgery Edirne, Turkey. gosimsek@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Şimşek
authors.forename: Tufan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hiçdönmez
authors.forename: M Kemal
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Hamamcıoğlu
authors.forename: Cumhur
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kılınçer
authors.forename: Turgay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Parsak
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tiryaki
authors.forename: Imran
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kurt
authors.forename: Sebahattin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Çobanoğlu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology