The pattern of computed tomography findings in patients with head injury at Mulago Hospital

ABSTRACT

Trauma is the commenest indication for surgery of the cranium at Mulago Hospital. Computed tomography (CT) is now widely used as a non invasive method in the investigation of skull trauma and related pathologies. Mulago Hospital has recently acquired a CT Scanner so we set out to evaluate its use in our head injury patients. A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out on a total of sectional study was carried out on a total of 71 patients. The specific objective of the study was to analyze the pattern of CT findings in head injury patients and to find out how the CT findings influenced the mode of treatment. A standard technique for CT brain scan was employed using a scan plane parallel to the radiographic base line of 5mm contiguous sections through the remainder of administered when pre-contrast scans were not informative. The commonest CT findings were subdural haematoma (41) and intracerebral haemorrhage (32). Twenty seven patients (38) underwent surgery as a result of the CT findings. We have found CT scanning very useful in the management of patients with head injury at Mulago hospital. It clearly defines the pathology; assisting the surgeon in determining the mode of therapy. The pattern of CT findings did not vary from that reported from other radiological and surgical studies