RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Mild brain injury and anticoagulants
JF Neurology: Clinical Practice
FD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
SP 296
OP 305
DO 10.1212/CPJ.0000000000000375
VO 7
IS 4
A1 Campiglio, Laura
A1 Bianchi, Francesca
A1 Cattalini, Claudio
A1 Belvedere, Daniela
A1 Rosci, Chiara Emilia
A1 Casellato, Chiara Livia
A1 Secchi, Manuela
A1 Saetti, Maria Cristina
A1 Baratelli, Elena
A1 Innocenti, Alessandro
A1 Cova, Ilaria
A1 Gambini, Chiara
A1 Romano, Luca
A1 Oggioni, Gaia
A1 Pagani, Rossella
A1 Gardinali, Marco
A1 Priori, Alberto
YR 2017
UL http://cp.neurology.org/content/7/4/296.abstract
AB Background: Despite the higher theoretical risk of traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in anticoagulated patients with mild head injury, the value of sequential head CT scans to identify bleeding remains controversial. This study evaluated the utility of 2 sequential CT scans at a 48-hour interval (CT1 and CT2) in patients with mild head trauma (Glasgow Coma Scale 13–15) taking oral anticoagulants.Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the clinical records of all patients on chronic anticoagulation treatment admitted to the emergency department for mild head injury.Results: A total of 344 patients were included, and 337 (97.9%) had a negative CT1. CT2 was performed on 284 of the 337 patients with a negative CT1 and was positive in 4 patients (1.4%), but none of the patients developed concomitant neurologic worsening or required neurosurgery.Conclusions: Systematic routine use of a second CT scan in mild head trauma in patients taking anticoagulants is expensive and clinically unnecessary.