THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TRAUMATIC INTRAVENTRICULAR HEMORRHAGE IN SEVERE HEAD-INJURY

Since the advent of computed tomography (CT) traumatic intraventricula r haemorrhage (IVH) has been diagnosed more often. It has reportedly b een associated with a poor prognosis, but pure or solitary IVH is rare , suggesting that other lesions occurring concurrently with it may con tribute to the poor outcome. In a series of 65 patients with severe he ad injury (GCS less than or equal to 8), 14 (22%) had IVH on initial C T. Death rate in these 14 was 21%, not significantly different from th at in patients without IVH (14%), although a significantly higher prop ortion of patients without IVH had a good outcome. These results sugge st that mortality is related to other lesions associated with IVH rath er than to IVH alone and that the presence of IVH does not necessarily lead to a poor outcome.