Skull fractures in children: their assessment in relation to developmental skull changes and acute intracranial hematomas

Retrospective analysis of 12,072 pediatric head injury cases revealed 1,297 skull fractures. Patients with skull fractures were divided into four age groups according to the fusion of skull sutures and other developmental radiological skull changes. Results revealed that the patients with open skull sutures (aged 2 years), the children became progressively more susceptible to developing intracranial hematomas if they had a skull fracture. The risk of developing intracranial hematomas was the highest among those patients (≫11–15 years) whose paranasal sinuses had reached adult size and spheno-occipital synchondrosis had begun to fuse.