Pseudo-subdural hematoma.

Abstract

The roentgenographic evaluation of head trauma in recent years has been primarily by carotid arteriography. Numerous authors emphasize the value of angiography in cerebral trauma (4, 6, 13, 20, 29). Even in gravely ill patients, Campbell and Campbell (1) stress the relative safety of carotid angiography in expert hands. Gilmartin (9), in a series of patients studied by angiography, found that many unnecessary burr holes were avoided. In an analysis of 100 subdural hematomas, Rosenbluth et at. (26) found that, prior to angiography, 50 per cent of exploratory burr holes were inadequate or inaccurate. The emergence, then, of the carotid angiogram has been of invaluable assistance to the clinician in pinpointing the nature and the extent of cerebral injuries. The most frequent use of cerebral angiography, indeed, in our hospital has been in the diagnosis of head injuries. Over the past ten years, approximately 1,000 patients with subdural hematomas have been observed, and in the past three years, serial carot...