Value of brain scanning in pediatric subdural collections

Piepsz, A., Bormans, J., Segers, A., Noterman, J. and Decostre, P. (Departments of Paediatrics, Radioisotopes and Neurosurgery, University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium). Value of brain scanning in pediatric subdural collections. Acta Paediatr Scand, 64:2, 1965. Eighteen children with subdural collections were submitted to brain scintigraphy. By this method, idopathic and post-traumatic hematomas were detected in 40% of the cases, and subdural effusions in 70% of the cases. No false-negative results were noted in the 3 cases of empyema. Several false-positive images were recorded, most of them following purulent meningitis, without any satisfactory explanation. Neither the technique of scintigraphy used in the department, the dimensions of the skull, the age of hematoma, nor the presence of membranes seemed to affect the accuracy of the method. Compared with the other easily performed examinations (eye fundus, EEG, Echo), scintigraphy still remains important in the diagnosis of subdural collections in children.