Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the consequence of external forces that traumatically
injure the brain. Closed head injury is common in children and is estimated to result
in 650,000 to 1 million emergency department visits annually with approximately 7,400
deaths in the United States. Mild TBI is the most common form of closed head injury
and constitutes 80 to 90% of all the TBI. Cranial computed tomography (cCT) is performed
in usually more than 50% of the patients, thus, resulting in an extreme overuse with
the inherent risk for inducing malignancies. The purpose of this article is to review
current approaches, recommendations, and guidelines on pediatric head trauma with
special emphasis on cCT. Therefore, after an overview on classification and TBI scores,
diagnostic imaging, and management rules for clinical important TBI, as well as own
experience including remarks on cCT technique will be discussed.
Keywords
brain injuries - computed tomography - children
