STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the need for cranial computed tomography (CT) in the emergency department evaluation of children with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 15 after mild head injury with loss of consciousness. DESIGN: Retrospective case series of children aged 2 to 17 years with documented loss of consciousness after head injury from January 1, 1988, to July 31, 1992. All had a GCS score of 15 on initial ED evaluation and were further categorized according to physical examination findings, neurologic status, and whether the head injury was isolated or nonisolated. Recursive partitioning was used to identify variables predictive of the presence and absence of intracranial hemorrhage. SETTING: ED in two settings: a regional tertiary care trauma center and a community children's hospital. RESULTS: Of the 185 patients who met study criteria, 17 had evidence of depressed or basilar skull fractures on physical examination or had a ventriculoperitoneal shunt in place before head injury. In the remaining 168 patients, recursive partitioning identified two variables (neurologic status and head injury type) associated with intracranial hemorrhage. Overall, 12 of 168 patients (7%) had intracranial bleeding. However, none of the 49 neurologically normal children with isolated head injury had intracranial hemorrhage (95% confidence interval, 0.0 to 6.0). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of intracranial hemorrhage in children with mild closed-head injury appears to vary with the presence of neurologic abnormalities and other noncranial injuries. After isolated head injury with loss of consciousness, children older than 2 years who are neurologically normal and without signs of depressed or basilar skull fracture may be discharged home from the ED without a cranial CT scan after careful physical examination alone.
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the need for cranial computed tomography (CT) in the emergency department evaluation of children with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 15 after mild head injury with loss of consciousness. DESIGN: Retrospective case series of children aged 2 to 17 years with documented loss of consciousness after head injury from January 1, 1988, to July 31, 1992. All had a GCS score of 15 on initial ED evaluation and were further categorized according to physical examination findings, neurologic status, and whether the head injury was isolated or nonisolated. Recursive partitioning was used to identify variables predictive of the presence and absence of intracranial hemorrhage. SETTING: ED in two settings: a regional tertiary care trauma center and a community children's hospital. RESULTS: Of the 185 patients who met study criteria, 17 had evidence of depressed or basilar skull fractures on physical examination or had a ventriculoperitoneal shunt in place before head injury. In the remaining 168 patients, recursive partitioning identified two variables (neurologic status and head injury type) associated with intracranial hemorrhage. Overall, 12 of 168 patients (7%) had intracranial bleeding. However, none of the 49 neurologically normal children with isolated head injury had intracranial hemorrhage (95% confidence interval, 0.0 to 6.0). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of intracranial hemorrhage in children with mild closed-head injury appears to vary with the presence of neurologic abnormalities and other noncranial injuries. After isolated head injury with loss of consciousness, children older than 2 years who are neurologically normal and without signs of depressed or basilar skull fracture may be discharged home from the ED without a cranial CT scan after careful physical examination alone.
Authors: Angela Lumba-Brown; Keith Owen Yeates; Kelly Sarmiento; Matthew J Breiding; Tamara M Haegerich; Gerard A Gioia; Michael Turner; Edward C Benzel; Stacy J Suskauer; Christopher C Giza; Madeline Joseph; Catherine Broomand; Barbara Weissman; Wayne Gordon; David W Wright; Rosemarie Scolaro Moser; Karen McAvoy; Linda Ewing-Cobbs; Ann-Christine Duhaime; Margot Putukian; Barbara Holshouser; David Paulk; Shari L Wade; Stanley A Herring; Mark Halstead; Heather T Keenan; Meeryo Choe; Cindy W Christian; Kevin Guskiewicz; P B Raksin; Andrew Gregory; Anne Mucha; H Gerry Taylor; James M Callahan; John DeWitt; Michael W Collins; Michael W Kirkwood; John Ragheb; Richard G Ellenbogen; Theodore J Spinks; Theodore G Ganiats; Linda J Sabelhaus; Katrina Altenhofen; Rosanne Hoffman; Tom Getchius; Gary Gronseth; Zoe Donnell; Robert E O'Connor; Shelly D Timmons Journal: JAMA Pediatr Date: 2018-11-05 Impact factor: 16.193
Authors: Martin H Osmond; Terry P Klassen; George A Wells; Rhonda Correll; Anna Jarvis; Gary Joubert; Benoit Bailey; Laurel Chauvin-Kimoff; Martin Pusic; Don McConnell; Cheri Nijssen-Jordan; Norm Silver; Brett Taylor; Ian G Stiell Journal: CMAJ Date: 2010-02-08 Impact factor: 8.262
Authors: M A Muñoz-Sánchez; F Murillo-Cabezas; A Cayuela; J M Flores-Cordero; M D Rincón-Ferrari; R Amaya-Villar; A Fornelino Journal: Childs Nerv Syst Date: 2004-08-24 Impact factor: 1.475