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During a robbery, a 34-year-old local shopkeeper was hit on the
head with a wooden bat and he lost consciousness.
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On arrival to the ED, he was awake but oriented only to person.
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There were multiple contusions on the right side of his head
and blood draining from his nose, but he had no difficulty maintaining
his airway. His pupils were equal and he was able to move all four
extremities. The initial Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score was 14.
His vital signs were normal and, aside from the head injury, there
was no other evident trauma.
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After initial stabilization, a head CT was performed (Figure
1).
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- What are the findings on his head CT?
- (There are six abnormalities)
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The primary goal of emergency CT scanning in a patient with head
trauma is rapid identification of a surgically correctable lesion
such as large subdural, epidural, or intracerebral hematoma. Clinical
outcome can be substantially improved with prompt surgical treatment.
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Many patients, however, do not have such lesions despite significant
head injury. Lesions that cannot be surgically corrected include
nonhemorrhagic cerebral contusions, diffuse axonal injury (DAI),
and smaller intracranial hemorrhages. The clinical status of patient
with these injuries can range from minor concussion to coma. Patients
with these injuries are at risk for delayed development of intracranial
hematomas or cerebral edema. These are known as secondary
injuries.
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Although this patient’s CT does not show lesions requiring
immediate surgical intervention, there are several findings of significant
head injury.
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On CT image
5 (Figure 2), the ventricles appear small. Such slit-like ventricles are a sign of
diffuse cerebral edema due to the traumatic brain injury. Another
sign of diffuse cerebral edema is effacement (thinning or obliteration)
of the cortical sulci.
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On this and the adjacent images (Figure 2 and Figure 1, images
5, 6, and 7), slight midline shift to
the right can be seen. This is ...