Indications for Computed Tomography after Minor Head Injury

To the Editor: The carefully done and clearly documented study by Haydel and colleagues (July 13 issue) 1 represents important progress in refining criteria for the use of computed tomography (CT) in patients with minor head injury that were originally proposed by me and others. 2 – 4 However, I believe a word of caution is in order. Their claim that the seven criteria they used had a sensitivity of 100 percent must be viewed with some skepticism. I have encountered exceptions to their rule that these findings always accompany abnormal CT scans in patients with minor head injury. Even though such exceptions . . .