Cerebral contusions. Study of 182 cases

: Clinical cases were selected in which cerebral contusions were the only visible lesions in CT scan on admission over the period from January 1983 and December 1985. The following characteristics were evaluated: Age, sex, conscience level (Glasgow) at admission, early post-traumatic epilepsy, focal signs, lesion mechanism, cranial fracture, as well as CT scan in which specific signs of bad prognosis were analyzed. According to the evolution of conscience level 3 groups of patients were established: Group 1 "no coma", group 2 "coma with lucid interval", group 3 "coma without lucid interval" and were correlated with the previously mentioned characteristics. The highest mean age (59.2 years) appeared in group 2. In 75% of patients in group 3 a traffic accident was the lesion mechanism. Admission CT scan showed that the severity is related to bad prognosis signs (displacement of middle line, lack of 3rd ventricle, and basal cisterns and multiple lesions). Mortality was approximately 70, 80 and 90% whether they had one, two, or three bad prognosis signs at admission CT scan.