Clinical value of serial computed tomography with severe head injury

Serial computed tomography (CT) scanning was performed on 138 patients suffering from severe head injuries (i.e., with scores of 8 or less on Glasgow Coma Scale). Standard practice called for scans to be done upon admission (within hours of the injury) and after 1, 3, and 7 days and 1 month. Subsequent CT scans depended on the patient's condition. Clinical results at the time of discharge were graded according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale. During the serial CT scan, there were new findings (not visualized on the initial CT scan but appearing on subsequent scans) in 91 of the 138 patients. These new findings were classified into seven types: (1) decreased density collection in the subdural space; (2) ventricular dilatation; (3) intracerebral hematoma; (4) intraventricular hemorrhage; (5) extracerebral hematoma; (6) edema; and (7) infarction. We defined intracerebral hematoma, intraventricular hemorrhage, extracerebral hematoma, edema, and infarction as new lesions. Of the 60 patients with new lesions, 12 had a good outcome and 48 had a poor outcome. Of 78 patients who did not have any new lesions, 60 had a good outcome and 18 had a poor outcome. A significant correlation was found between good outcome and the absence of new lesions and between bad outcome and the development of new lesions (p less than 0.001; X2 = 44.038). We conclude that serial CT scanning can help predict the outcome of patients with severe head injuries and may be very important in their examination and care.