CLINICAL-SIGNIFICANCE OF ACUTE TRAUMATIC INTRACRANIAL PNEUMOCEPHALUS

Among 1142 patients with head injuries hospitalized in the Neurosurger y Department of Gazi University Medical School during the period betwe en 1979 and 1992. 583 had initial CT scans. A retrospective analysis o f these initial CT images revealed intracranial air on admission in on ly 21 cases. These were classified as acute traumatic intracranial pne umocephalus: a potentially serious complication of head injury. CT sca ns were re-evaluated so as to reveal whether air was situated in the e pidural, subdural. or subarachnoid spaces or intracerebrally; whether associated space-occupying lesions were present; and whether the air b ubbles were single or multiple. Clinical data such as the presence of persistant rhinorrhea and/or otorrhea, tension pneumocephalus, severit y and type of trauma, and outcome were also assessed to determine the significance of this rare finding.