Computerised tomography of intracranial subdural haematoma in Ibadan.

The high mortality and morbidity associated with intra-cranial subdural hematoma (SDH), has declined significantly with the introduction of Computerised Tomography (CT) for the evaluation of the brain in suspected cases. One hundred patients with CT-diagnosed SDH at the Radiology department of the University College Hospital, Ibadan between January 1999 and December 2000 were reviewed. The mean age was 47.4 years. The most frequent cause of SDH was head injury 61 (61%). The observed CT appearances of SDH included 66 (66%) of chronic (hypodense), 30 (30%) of acute (hyperdense) and 4 (4%) of acute-en-chronic (mixed density) lesions. There were more unilateral 83 (83%) lesions than bilateral 17 (17%). The lesions were right-sided in 45 (45%) cases and left-sided in 38 (38%). A total of 169 lesions were detected as some patients had multiple sites, however, the parietal 78 (46.2%) and frontal 64 (37.9%) lobes were mostly affected. We conclude that brain CT scan offers the advantage of prompt determination and precise anatomical localization of SDH, which significantly aids management.