[Diagnostic difficulties with skull and brain injury complications in alcoholic patients]

About 20% of patients treated because of craniocerebral injuries are those after an alcohol intake. Great number of these patients slightly bodily injured without any focal cerebral deficit are stopped by police. The effects of injuries masked by the picture of alcohol intoxication are developed during that time. Published data and authors of this paper observations show that atypical clinical picture, lack of typical, specific disturbances of cerebral function make diagnosing of the effect of craniocerebral injuries difficult. To avoid diagnostic errors in inebriate patients with head injuries, the degree of cerebral function disturbances together with life-threatening risk factors should be carefully evaluated. Afterwards the range of diagnostic methods can be established. If the wide range of diagnostics is not necessary, patients should be observed over the period of a few hours. The authors present original 63-points Scale of Brainstem Insufficiency (ITC). This ITC scale assesses: consciousness, the whole body movements, vegetative functions (breath temperature, blood pressure, pulse), pupils and eye movements movements. This scale can be used for evaluation of global cerebral function disturbances observed in not only craniocerebral injuries but in alcohol intoxication as well.