Prevalence of Pathological Lesion Due to Mild Head Trauma in Computed Tomography Scan of Patients’ Brains

Background and aims: This study investigated the prevalence of pathological lesions on the computedtomography (CT) scans of the brains of patients with mild head trauma based on the New Orleans-Canadian criteria at Shahrekord Ayatollah Kashani Hospital, Iran.Methods: All patients referred to the Emergency Department of Shahrekord Ayatollah Kashani Hospitalin ۲۰۱۹ with a history of head trauma were included in this cross-sectional, descriptive-analyticalstudy according to the criteria of mild head trauma. Then, the relevant checklist was used to record thepatients’ level of consciousness, demographic information, and cause of trauma. Finally, the data wereanalyzed using SPSS ۱۸, and the patient’s lesions were reported accordingly.Results: Out of ۱۴۳ patients, ۸۹ were males, and ۵۴ were females in this study. Falling from a heightwas the cause of head trauma in most patients (۴۳.۳%). Among all patients, the CT scans of six patientswere abnormal and had lesions. The vomiting had a significant relationship with the results of the CTscan, and for patients with mild head trauma, the Canadian and New Orleans indices had the sameclinical importance.Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, the New Orleans index could identify morepatients as CT scan candidates than the Canadian index; however, there was no difference in the finalresult (the presence of a pathological lesion in the CT scan) between these two indices. The NewOrleans index has more features than the Canadian index, but its results are not different from theCanadian index. Thus, we believe that using the Canadian index can reduce imaging rates, costs, andprotection from the side effects of radiation.

Keywords:

Brain CT X-ray , Mild trauma , Canadian-New Orleans criteria