The Use of CT Scanning to Triage Patients Requiring Admission Following Minimal Head Injury

Complicated vs uncomplicated mild traumatic brain injury: Acute neuropsychological outcome

“…Approximately 7-20% of consecutive patients presenting to the emergency room with an MTBI have an intra-cranial abnormality (e.g. contusion or haemorrhage) on day-of-injury computed tomography [22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. In a comprehensive review of the literature, the estimated prevalence of CT abnormalities of patients seen in the hospital was 5% for those with GCS scores of 15 and 30% or more for those with GCS scores of 13 [28].…”

CT scan in minor head injury: a guide for rural doctors

“…However, there are other indirect studies that investigated the correlation between mode of injury and intracranial injury. 2,11,[19][20][21][22] Forty-four patients (47%) with minor head injury had a GCS score of 15 on admission. Twenty eight percent had a GCS score of 14 and the remaining 26% of 13.…”

Identification and Evaluation of Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Results of a National Survey of Level I Trauma Centers

“…20 Although patients with MTBI and a normal head CT scan arguably may be discharged to home, studies that suggest this consider the lack of neurologic deterioration requiring admission or surgery as the endpoint and do not evaluate cognitive function. [21][22][23][24][25][26] As proportionally more people with MTBI are discharged home from emergency departments, it becomes increasingly important to evaluate them as outpatients, yet only 34% of the responding Level I centers report evaluating patients with MTBI who were discharged home from the ED.…”