Skull radiographs and computed tomography scans in children and adolescents with mild head trauma.

OBJECTIVE To identify which pediatric patients with mild head trauma are candidates for skull radiographs or cranial computed tomography (CCT) scans. METHOD Patients with mild head trauma aged from 0 to 19 years presenting to the Emergency Department of a trauma centre from Salvador City, Brazil, between May 2007 and May 2008. RESULTS A total of 1888 mild head trauma patients were admitted; mean age was 7.4 (+/-5.5) years. A total of 1956 skull radiographs and 734 CCT scans were performed. About 44.4% patients with Glasgow coma score (GCS) 13 and 55.4% with GCS 14 had abnormal CCT scans. In patients with multiple traumas, 16% had abnormal findings on CCT scans. CONCLUSION We strongly recommend routine CCT studies to patients with GCS of 13 and 14 or to multiple trauma victims, independently of score. Routine screening skull radiographs were not useful in the evaluation of mild head trauma patients in this study.