Intracranial Hemorrhage…………Artist Sketch Copy

Intracranial Hemorrhage

. . When faced with analyzing an unknown CT head, I advise you to do the following :

1…..Remember that the normal CT head is symmetrical ( except for the sagittal view ).
2…..If you see an abnormality, note its density and suggest the differential diagnosis of tissue such as : normal variant, malrotation, tumor benign calcifications, fresh blood, old blood, old infarcted tissue, recent infarcted tissue CSF& others Narrowing down of the differential diagnosis will be possible with clinical correlation, e.g. trauma, sudden development of hemiparesis, sudden onset headache, gradual development of symptoms, etc.
CLINICAL PEARL :
Don’t forget to check and see if the patient has a previous CT head—– comparison with the old CT will obviously aid you in your conclusion and treatment mode .
3…..If you believe the lesion is an acute hemorrhage, they will usually fall into four distinct categories : as follows ( Don’t forget to measure the Hounsfield Unit of the lesion—————— fresh blood is approximately + 40 )
    A…..Intracerebral Hemorrhage.
    B…..Acute Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.
    C…..Acute Subdural Hemorrhage.
    D…..Acute Epidural Hemorrhage.

ill1341

Illustration 134 Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Over the next series of windows I will focus on the intracranial bleeds as listed above with the goal of —
a…..is a bleed present?
b…..is the bleed A, B, C or D as listed above?
I will outline the salient feature of each one for recognition purposes. Please click on
NEXT
for discussion of intracerebral hemorrhage.