The risk of intracranial complications in pediatric head injury

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Abstract
Retrospective analysis of 12,072 pediatric head injury cases admitted to hospital revealed 159 patients with intracranial complications: 132 had intracranial hematoma and 27 had diffuse brain swelling. Multivariate analysis revealed two risk factors that could be recognized easily by primary-care physicians. They were found to be significant in predicting the development of incracranial complications. These risk factors were impairment of consciousness at the time of admission and clinical and/or radiological skull fracture. Analysis revealed that the combination of impaired consciousness and skull fracture carried the highest risk of complication (75%); however, the presence of impaired consciousness alone had an intermediate level of risk (19%). The presence of skull fracture alone carried a small overall risk (2%); however, this was higlly dependent on age. The absence of all the risk factors considered carried a negligible risk of intracranial complications, provided proper skull X-rays were taken and correctly interpreted.