[C.T. scan and traumatic intracranial haematoma without clinical signs (author's transl)]

Patients having sustained head injuries were investigated by computerized axial tomography, a few hours after trauma. 24 conscious patients had large traumatic lesions: epidural haematoma, acute subdural haematoma and cerebral attrition. 12 had no focal sign and were well conscious or very slightly drowsy. 12 were slightly drowsy and/or had focal signs but these signs were very discrete in contrast with the huge lesions seen on the CT Scan. This seems to confirm that an epidural haematoma expands very early after the head injury, and, in any case, that it does exist during the free interval. From a practical view point, computerized tomography may greatly improve the treatment of patients who, other-wise, would have been operated upon in comatose state. This study is not a prospective one, it does not lead to any statistical value. But it points out the usefulness of CT Scan after severe head injury especially of conscious patients, above all if there is a skull fracture.