Soft tissue swelling and acute skull fractures.

To determine whether soft tissue swelling, as identified by computed tomography, invariably accompanies acute calvarial fracture, the computed tomography scans of 35 children aged 3 months to 8 years with acute skull fractures were evaluated. Bone window settings revealed at least 4 mm of soft tissue swelling in all instances. We conclude that a skull fracture without overlying soft tissue swelling demonstrable by computed tomography is probably inconsistent with an acute injury.