Contribution of CT scan in the nursing of cranial traumatism in Bamako.

Objectives : The aims of this study was to describe the clinical, CT scan and prognosis aspects of cranial traumatism in our practice. Material and method : This study was a descriptive and prospective one concerning 324 cases of cranial traumatism. Patients were hospitalized in the emergency unit of Gabriel Touré hospital from January to August 2004. We graded them into 2 groups according to the realization (group 1) or not (groupe 2) of computerized tomography. These 2 groups are equivalent as far as the Glasgow coma scale was concerned. Results : About 324 patients with cranial traumatism,we included 153 (116 males, 37 females) in our study. The mean age was 20.2 years (average 1-69 years). In the group 1 (153 patients) the injury was located in cerebral or pericrebral tissue in 88.2% (cerebral lesion in 58.8%, pericebral in 32,6%, mixed in 8.6%) bone or soft tissue in 24.8%. 6.5% of these patients was operated. 15% of group 1 and 26.3% of group 2 died (X2 : 6.18; p < 2%) In conclusion we believe that computerized tomography allows to improve the prognosis of cranial traumatism.