The University of Adelaide CENTRE FOR AUTOMOTIVE SAFETY RESEARCH

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TitleNeurotrauma in country hospitals: The role of computerized tomography scanning
AuthorsSimpson DA, Worth RJ
Year1989
TypeJournal Article
AbstractComputerized tomography (CT) is invaluable - some would say indispensable - in head injury management. This is most obvious in the diagnosis of intracranial haemorrhage. The CT scan shows clots so well, and demonstrates their secondary effects so clearly, that a new concept in the management of post-traumatic intracranial bleeding has arisen in the last decade: diagnosis and treatment before the onset of clinical deterioration.' The success of this is evident in the fall in mortality from, for example, extradural haemorrhage. * CT scanning enables the operator to expose an intracranialclot adequately, usually by a flap craniotomy, thus eliminating the once common error of incomplete clot evacuation through a small, badly placed craniectomy. CT scanning is also of great value in the conservative treatment of severe closed head injuries: an initial scan makes diagnostic burr hole exploration unnecessary, and serial scans serve to reassure (or to warn) intensive care specialists who are maintaining ventilation under sedation or respiratory paralysis.
Journal TitleAustralian & New Zealand Journal of Surgery
Journal Volume (Issue)59
Page Range1-3
Notesavailable from CASR library on request

Reference
Simpson DA, Worth RJ (1989). Neurotrauma in country hospitals: The role of computerized tomography scanning. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Surgery, 59, 1-3.