Emergency CT head (mnemonic)

Changed by Daniel J Bell, 18 Sep 2017

Updates to Article Attributes

Body was changed:

Show markup changes

A useful mnemonic which is used to read an emergency head CT scan is:

Using a systematic approach will help to ensure that significant neuropathology will not be missed.

B: blood
- look for epidural hematoma, subdural hematoma, intraparenchymal hemorrhage, intraventricular hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage and (also) extracranial hemorrhage
C: cisterns
- look for the presence of blood, effacement and asymmetry in four key cisterns (circummesencephalic, suprasellar, quadrigeminal and sylvian cisterns)
B: brain
- look for asymmetry or effacement of the sulcal pattern, gray-white matter differentiation (including the insular ribbon sign), structural shifts and abnormal hypo (e.g. air, edema) or hyperdensities (e.g. blood, calcification)
V: ventricles
- look for intraventricular hemorrhage, ventricular effacement or shift and for hydrocephalus
B: bone
- look for skull fractures (especially ~~basilar~~basal) inon bone windows (soft tissue swelling, mastoid air cells and paranasal sinuses fluid in the setting of trauma should raise the possibility of a skull fracture; intracranial air means that the skull and the dura have been violated somewhere)

-<strong>B: </strong>bone<ul><li>look for <a href="/articles/skull-fractures">skull fractures </a>(especially basilar) in bone windows (soft tissue swelling, mastoid air cells and <a href="/articles/paranasal-sinuses">paranasal sinuses</a> fluid in the setting of trauma should raise the possibility of a skull fracture; intracranial air means that the skull and the <a href="/articles/dura-mater">dura </a>have been violated somewhere)</li></ul>
+<strong>B: </strong>bone<ul><li>look for <a href="/articles/skull-fractures">skull fractures </a>(especially basal) on bone windows (soft tissue swelling, mastoid air cells and <a href="/articles/paranasal-sinuses">paranasal sinuses</a> fluid in the setting of trauma should raise the possibility of a skull fracture; intracranial air means that the skull and the <a href="/articles/dura-mater">dura </a>have been violated somewhere)</li></ul>

ADVERTISEMENT: Supporters see fewer/no ads

Updating… Please wait.

Unable to process the form. Check for errors and try again.

Thank you for updating your details.