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Updated: Aug 25, 2026
Development of an Uncomplicated Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Model Modified by Weight-Drop Method and Evidenced by Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: April 11, 2025
Value of repeat cranial computed axial tomography scanning in patients with minimal head injury
Ziad C Sifri1, David H Livingston, Robert F Lavery
1Division of Trauma, Department of Surgery, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, University Hospital M-243, 150 Bergen St., Newark, NJ 07103, USA.
Background:
Patients with minimal head injury (MHI) and a cranial computed axial tomography (CAT) scan positive for the presence of intracranial injury routinely undergo a repeat CAT scan within 24 hours after injury. The value of this repeat cranial CAT scan is unclear in those patients who are neurologically normal or improving.
Methods:
A retrospective analysis of all adult patients admitted to a level-1 trauma center with MHI and a positive cranial CAT scan during a 32-month period was performed. The need for neurosurgical intervention after repeat CAT scan in patients with a persistently normal or improved neurological examination was recorded.
Results:
One hundred fifty-one patients had a persistently normal or improved neurological examination, but none of these patients required neurosurgical intervention after the repeat cranial CAT scan.
Conclusions:
A persistently normal or improving neurological examination in a patient with MHI appears to exclude the need for neurosurgical intervention and thus a repeat cranial CAT scan.
