Paediatric Head Injury: Concordance between CT Findings and GCS Scores- A Retrospective Study in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Introduction: Computed Tomography (CT) remains the mainstay in the detection of traumatic brain injuries in children just as in the adult population. However, unnecessary and inadvertent use of CT in minor and less significant head injuries exposes children to harmful ionising radiation and subsequently increases the lifetime cancer risk. So, there is a need to use CT judiciously in cases of minor head injuries. The Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) can provide a comprehensive framework for proper stratification of neural impairment and head injury severity. Aim: To assess the concordance between CT scan findings and GCS scores in paediatric patients with acute Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study of paediatric head injury cases who were referred to the Department of Radiodiagnosis, Mysore Medical College, Karnataka, India. from January 2021 to December 2021. The head CT of 110 patients was reviewed. Demographic details, mode of accident, CT findings, and GCS scores were collected from hospital records. Descriptive statistics were used and results were expressed in terms of frequency and percentages. Results: Out of 110 patients (mean age: 9.17±3.02 years) reviewed, males were 78 (71%) and females were 32 (29%). Road traffic accident was found to be the most common cause, i.e., in 71 patients (64.5%). The most common CT scan finding was fracture as seen in 12 cases. Out of 110 patients, 94 had mild injury according to GCS scores, 12 had a moderate head injury and four had a severe head injury. As the GCS scores decreased, the percentage of positive findings on CT increased. Conclusion: Percentage of positive CT findings was higher in the moderate and severe head injury category, where the role of CT scans in acute settings becomes valuable.