Prevalence and pattern of basal skull fracture in head injury patients in an academic hospital

SA Journal of Radiology

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Prevalence and pattern of basal skull fracture in head injury patients in an academic hospital
 
Creator Mokolane, Ntjeke S. Minne, Cornelia Dehnavi, Alireza
 
Subject Health; imaging; radiology basal skull fracture; computed tomography; head injury
Description Background: Basal skull fractures (BSFs) have been reported to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the literature, particularly in young male patients. However, there are limited data available on the aetiology, prevalence and patterns of such observed in South Africa.Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence and pattern of BSF in head injury patients referred to Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, Gauteng, South Africa.Methods: Patients of all ages with head injuries were considered for the study, and those who met the inclusion criteria were scanned using a 128-slice multidetector helical computed tomography (CT) machine after obtaining consent. Data were prospectively obtained over a 6-month period, interpreted on an advanced workstation by two readers and statistically analysed.Results: The prevalence of BSF in this study was found to be 15.2%. The majority of patients (80.5%) were under 40 years old, with a male to female ratio of 3:1. The most common aetiology of BSF was assault, which accounted for 46% of cases. The middle cranial fossa was the most frequently fractured compartment, while the petrous bone was the most commonly fractured bone. There was a statistically significant association between head injury severity and BSF, and between the number of fracture lines and associated signs of BSF (p  0.001). The sensitivity of clinical signs in predicting BSF was 31%, while specificity was 89.3% (p = 0.004).Conclusion: The prevalence and pattern of BSF found were consistent with data from previously published studies, although, dissimilarly, assault was found to be the most common aetiology in this study.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2019-03-13
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Cross-sectional observational study
Format text/html application/epub+zip application/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajr.v23i1.1677
 
Source South African Journal of Radiology; Vol 23, No 1 (2019); 7 pages 2078-6778 1027-202X
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajr.org.za/index.php/sajr/article/view/1677/2212 https://sajr.org.za/index.php/sajr/article/view/1677/2211 https://sajr.org.za/index.php/sajr/article/view/1677/2213 https://sajr.org.za/index.php/sajr/article/view/1677/2209
 
Coverage Africa; South Africa; Gauteng province; Tshwane; Northwest district; Ga-Rankuwa June 2016- November 206 All ages, both genders, any ethnicity, head injury
Rights Copyright (c) 2019 Ntjeke S. Mokolane, Cornelia Minne, Alireza Dehnavi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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