Aim: The purpose of the study was to establish the prognostic factors and curative criteria on the management
of posterior fossa epidural hematomas.
Material and Methods: This study consisted of 14 (17%) posterior fossa epidural hematoma cases out of 82
traumatic epidural hematoma patients admitted to İnönü University School of Medicine, Department of
Neurosurgery in a four-year-period between January 1998 to January 2002. The patients were evaluated
regarding age, gender, type of trauma, hematoma volume, Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) in admittance, symptoms
and signs, concomittant pathology, surgical treatment and Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS).
Results: 57.1% of the cases were male and 42.9% of the cases were female. Average age was 11.1 years and
78.6% of the cases were in the pediatric age group. 85.7% of the cases were admitted in the first twenty-four
hours. The most frequent etiology was fall (71.4%) and 64.3% of the patients had a GCS of 13-15 in admittance.
The most frequent symptom was headache (71.4%). All the cases had occipital linear fracture and none of them
deceased.
Conclusion: Surgical management of posterior fossa epidural hematomas require a thorough evaluation of the
level of consciousness, cranial computerized tomography findings, and hematoma volume.
Key Words: Computed Tomography, Epidural Hematoma, Occipital Fracture, Posterior Cranial Fossa
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