Incidental findings on cranial CT scans of children with head trauma

Abstract

Aim: The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of incidental findings in healthy pediatric age group who were taken to CT for head trauma. Material and Methods: Cranial CT of 980 pediatric patients who were presented to the emergency department of our hospital due to brain trauma were retrospectively reviewed. All cranial CT scans were interpreted by a faculty radiologists and a neurosurgeon. All traumatic and non-traumatic CT findings were identified and entered into two seperate databases. Results: Nine hundered eighty head-injured children who received cranial CT scans in the ED were evaluated. According to exclusion criteria, 146 of all were eliminated from the study. Of all remaining 834 patients, total of 86 patients (% 10.3) had IF on their CT scans. The 86 patients with incidental findings had a median age of 6.8 years (1 week –17.4 years old ). Intracranial calcification was the most common incidental lesion in 14 patients (1.6%) while the least frequent one was the open lip schizencephaly in 2 patients (% 0.23). Malignant lesions such as astrocytoma-diffuse glioma in 4 patients (0.47%) and potentially life-threating lesions like arteriovenous malformation in 2 patients (0.23%) were also detected. Conclusion: In pediatric age group who have long life expectancy, medicolegally and ethically it is important to determine incidental findings and specify them at radiological reports. It is necessary to disclose the incidental findings to the patients and families in an appropriate manner in order to decrease anxiety.