مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Incidental Findings on Computed Tomography of patients with mild head trauma in the Emergency Department. Clinical Study

Abstract :

Objective: Cranial computed tomography (CCT) scans are frequently obtained in the evaluation of patients with mild head trauma. These scans may detect unexpected incidental findings. Advances in neuroimaging and the increase in human population, has led to increased identification of patients with incidental intracranial findings on CCT. Since incidental lesions do not usually cause any pathology, treatment is not needed. However, in some cases, they provide an early diagnosis of the pathology that may occur in the future. In this study, it is aimed to create awareness for incidental brain findings detected on CCT after mild head trauma in emergency departments. Material and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed incidental findings on routine brain computed tomography in patients with mild head trauma who admitted between June 2012–2018 in the emergency department. The age, sex, backgrounds and anatomic localization of the lesion were evaluated. Patients without any deficits were included in the study. Results: Incidental findings were found on 58/1784 (3.2%) patients. Thirty-eight (65%) of our patients were male and 20 (35%) were female. The mean age of our patients was 23.4±9.2 (one month to 87 years old). Among these, there were 19(%32) arachnoid cysts, 8(%13) mega cisterna magna, 6(%10) septum pellicidum cysts, 5(%8) meningioma, 5(%8) hydrocephalus, 3(%5) porencephalic cysts, 3(%5) physiological calcifications, 3(%5) artifacts, 2(%3) glial tumors, 1(%2) pituitary adenoma, 2(%3) cerebral arterial aneurysms and one cavernoma. Conclusion: We have detected that arachnoid cyst was the most common incidental finding, and mega cisterna magna and septum pellicidum cysts were the other commonly encountered common.