Abstract

Objective: Head trauma is one of the most common causes for applying to the emergency department in

children. Minor head trauma constitutes a large part of these applications. In this study; demographic characteristics,

clinical and computed tomography (CT) findings of children with blunt head trauma admitted to the

emergency department were evaluated. The role of computed tomography (CT) in follow-up and evaluation

of these group of patients was also examined with this study.

Material and Method: Two hundred patients admitted to the emergency department with head trauma between

January 2007 and January 2009 were included in this retrospective study. Two patients were excluded

from the study because of insufficient information about these patients. The clinical and demographic findings

of the patients including age, gender, trauma type, physical examination findings, and associated systemic

diseases were evaluated in this study.

Results: According to the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of patients; 99.5% (197) of patients had mild (GCS:

13-15) and 0.5% (1) of patients had a severe head injury (GCS: 5). One patient had von-Willebrand factor

deficiency. Although most of the patients had a domestic accident, one patient with severe head trauma had

fallen from altitudes. Among 197 patients with minor head trauma underwent CT, 6 had linear fractures

andone of them had 2 mm epidural hematoma. Furthermore, there is fracture, multiple contusions, and two

epidural hematoma with diameters of 5-mm and 3-mm in a patient with severe head trauma. All patients undertaken

CT had scalp and/or facial laceration and/or hematoma.

Conclusion: The high ratio of CT used in patients with minor head trauma was remarkably high. It was

thought that the anxiety of families caused by lacerations and/or hematomas of all the patients undertaken CT

mislead the physician for deciding to use CT. When the frequency of minor trauma in childhood and radiation

exposure due to CT in each trauma is considered; the clinical follow up and neurological examination remain

in the first place despite advanced imaging methods.

Key Words: Minor, head injury, computed tomography,

Keywords: Minor, head injury, computed tomography, brain, child

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Copyright and license

How to cite

1.
Derbent M, Öncel MY, Konuksever D, Niron EA. The Role of Computed Tomography For Evaluation of Children with Head Trauma. Turk J Pediatr Dis [Internet]. 2011 Aug. 1 [cited 2025 May 25];5(2):75-80. Available from: https://turkjpediatrdis.org/article/view/136