Tomografia computadorizada no traumatismo cranioencefálico

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of morbimortality in Brazil and worldwide. Considering that TBI is most frequently observed in the young adult age group, it presents considerable socioeconomic impact on the economically active population. In spite of the developments in the diagnosis and treatment of TBI, the figures are still staggering, because of the scarcity of public policies aimed at reducing the incidence of accidents. In Rio de Janeiro, over the past two to three years, we have been observing the effects of the anti-alcohol abuse law. The results have been encouraging, demonstrating that sound public policies may bring about cultural changes with positive impact on the society as a whole. Thus, the article by Morgado & Rossi published in the previous issue of Radiologia Brasileira is very pertinent for demonstrating the figures resulting from TBI on our population. In the series of 102 patients, in spite of the fact that 82.4% of the cases presented mild TBI, tomographic findings were observed in approximately 80% of the patients. As previously reported in the literature, the most severe lesions were most frequently demonstrated in those patients presenting lower Glasgow coma scores at the moment of the examination. Additionally, the authors demonstrated a significant correlation between tomographic findings