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Case Report
Is the skull x-ray a useful tool in paediatric blunt head injury and are we familiar with an abnormal finding?
South African Journal of Radiology | Vol 5, No 1 | a1784 |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajr.v5i1.1784
| © 2019 S. Andronikou, C. Welman, E. Kader, J. Venter, T. Kilborn
| This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 07 August 2019 | Published: 28 February 2001
Submitted: 07 August 2019 | Published: 28 February 2001
About the author(s)
S. Andronikou, Department of Paediatric Radiology, University of Cape Town; and Institute of Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, South AfricaC. Welman, Department of Paediatric Radiology, University of Cape Town; and Institute of Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, South Africa
E. Kader, Department of Paediatric Radiology, University of Cape Town; and Institute of Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, South Africa
J. Venter, Department of Paediatric Radiology, University of Cape Town; and Institute of Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, South Africa
T. Kilborn, Department of Paediatric Radiology, University of Cape Town; and Institute of Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, South Africa
Full Text:
PDF (1MB)Abstract
Skull X-ray (SXR) has been, and still is, used in some institutions to detect skull fractures in paediatric head injuries. When no clinical/neurological indication for computed tomography (CT) scanning exists, the presence of a skull fracture may be used as an indication for this. This case report demonstrates an unusual SXR finding of oval lucencies in a neurologically normal child who had sustained a head injury. The subsequent CT scan demonstrated a subacute subdural haemorrhage with air pockets, highlighting the need to recognise intracranial air. The literature is reviewed regarding the usefulness of SXR in childhood head injury.
Keywords
computerised tomography; skull fracture; subdural haemorrhage; pneumocranium
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