Contribution of Computed Tomography in the Diagnosis of Cranioencephalic Trauma

Background: cranioencephalic trauma is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in young subjects. CT scan is the first-line examination in it exploration. In Central African Republic (CAR), CT scan examination profile is poorly known in current practice, reason why we chose this subject. Objective: list traumatic cranioencephalic lesions and describe their CT appearance. Patients and methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in the Bangui radiology and medical imaging department from March 1 to December 31, 2021. We included patients of two sexes regardless of age, having performed brain CT for cranioencephalic trauma during the study period. Data analysis was done using Epi info software. Results: During the study period, 593 cerebral CT scans were performed, of which 84 patients met our inclusion criteria, i.e., a hospital frequency of 14.2%. There was a male predominance with a sex ratio of 2.8. The average age was 26 years with extremes of 1 to 84 years. The most represented age group was that of 20 to 30 years old. The clinical signs were dominated by Master’s group 1 with Glasgow between 15 and 9 (52.4%). Road accidents were the predominant cause with 81% of cases. In 61.9% of cases, the CT examination is performed within more than 24 hours after the trauma. The main CT lesions were dominated by skull vault and facial bone fractures (42.8%). Subdural hematoma, oedemato-hemorrhagic contusions and extra dural hematoma were the main pericerebral and intracerebral lesions with 38.5% respectively; 24%; and 9.5%. In 42.8% of cases the CT scan was normal. Conclusion: CT is a first-line examination for lesional assessment in the event of cranioencephalic trauma. These lesions are dominated by fractures of the vault of the skull and the facial bone. Subdural hematoma, oedemato-hemorrhagic contusions and extra dural hematoma are the main pericerebral and intracerebral lesions observed.