Delayed intracranial hemorrhage after head trauma seems rare and rarely needs intervention - even in antiplatelet or anticoagulation therapy

Abstract

Background Traumatic brain injury causes morbidity, mortality and many emergency department visits. Computerized tomography of the head is the gold standard to detect traumatic intracranial hemorrhage. Some are not diagnosed at the first scan and they are denoted “delayed intracranial hemorrhages”. To detect these delayed hemorrhages, current guidelines for head trauma recommend observation and/or rescanning for patients on anticoagulation therapy but not for patients on antiplatelet therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and need for interventions of delayed intracranial hemorrhage after head trauma.Methods The study was a retrospective review of medical records of adult patients with isolated head trauma presenting at Helsingborg General Hospital between January 1 2020 to December 31, 2020. Univariate statistical analyses were performed.Results In total, 1627 patients were included and four (0.25%, 95% confidence interval 0.06–0.60%) patients had delayed intracranial hemorrhage. One of these patients was diagnosed within 24 hours and three within 2–30 days. The patient diagnosed within 24 hours and one of the patients diagnosed within 2–30 days were on antiplatelet therapy. None of these four patients were prescribed anticoagulation therapy and no intensive care, no neurosurgical operations or deaths were recorded.Conclusion Traumatic delayed intracranial hemorrhage seems rare and consequences mild and antiplatelet and anticoagulation therapy might confer similar risk. Because serious complications appear rare, observing and/or rescanning all patients with either of these medications can be debated. Risk stratification of these patients might have the potential to identify the patients at risk while safely reducing observation times and rescanning.