The traumatic dural sinus injury--a clinical study.

In a period of 13 years 978 cases of severe head injuries were operated on in our clinic. An analysis of the medical reports includes injuries of the superficial dural sinus (39 cases = 4%): among these injuries of the anterior and central part of the superior sagittal sinus (66 per cent), injuries of the transverse sinus (18 per cent), injuries of the posterior part of the superior sagittal sinus (8 per cent), and combined injuries of different dural sinuses (8 per cent). Clinical data, i.e. the causes of accident, radiological examination results, intracranial lesions, operation techniques and outcome are analysed and discussed. The analysis of cases with dural sinus injuries shows a high mortality rate (total mortality rate: 16 patients = 41%; intra-operative mortality rate: 8 patients = 20%).