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Published in: Pediatric Radiology 8/2010

01-08-2010 | Original Article

Association between linear skull fractures and intracranial hemorrhage in children with minor head trauma

Authors: David B. Erlichman, Einat Blumfield, Swapnil Rajpathak, Amanda Weiss

Published in: Pediatric Radiology | Issue 8/2010

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Abstract

Background

To determine whether skull fractures can be used to associate intracranial hemorrhage with minor head trauma (MHT).

Objective

We conducted a retrospective study evaluating the association between linear skull fractures and intracranial hemorrhage among children with MHT. Furthermore, we evaluated the significance of small intracranial hemorrhages by assessing the need for neurosurgical interventions.

Materials and methods

The case group included 114 children with a diagnosis of a linear skull fracture and the control group included 125 children without the diagnosis. We conducted multivariable logistic regression analyses to estimate the odds ratio (OR) between linear skull fractures and intracranial bleeding.

Results

Among the cases, 29 of 114 (25%) children were diagnosed with an intracranial hemorrhage on CT, compared to only 14 of 125 (11%) among the controls. The multivariable OR for intracranial hemorrhages comparing cases and controls adjusted for age and gender was 2.17 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01, 4.68). All the intracranial hemorrhages were small (3.8 ± 2.3 mm) and none of them required any neurosurgical intervention.

Conclusion

The presence of a linear skull fracture is an independent risk factor for intracranial hemorrhage. However, all the intracranial hemorrhages associated with the skull fractures were small and did not require any neurosurgical interventions.
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Metadata
Title
Association between linear skull fractures and intracranial hemorrhage in children with minor head trauma
Authors
David B. Erlichman
Einat Blumfield
Swapnil Rajpathak
Amanda Weiss
Publication date
01-08-2010
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Pediatric Radiology / Issue 8/2010
Print ISSN: 0301-0449
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1998
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-010-1555-4

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