Traumatic Lesions in Posterior Cranial Fossa

Kim, Kang Hyeon; Cho, Ki Hong; Kim, Han Kyu; Cho, Kyoung Gi; Choi, Joong Uhn

Abstract

Author analyzed 117 patients with traumatic lesions in posterior cranial fossa who had been treated at the Department of Neurosurgery in Jeonju Presbyterian Medical Center from January 1982 to December 1985. Results are summarized as follows: 1) The traumatic lesions in posterior cranial fossa were 4.97% of all head injuries. 2) 73 out of 117 patients were male and female were 44 cases. 75.2% of cases were found below age of 40. 3) The most common cause of injuries was traffic accident with motor vehicle(50%). 4) Occipital skull fractures were found in 69 cases(50.4%). Most of them were linear type. There were 15 epidural hematoma(12.8%), 6 cerebellar hematoma, 4 pontine hematoma, 1 subdural hematoma. 5) 67 cases of all patients were on Grady coma scale grade 1 and 2. 48 cases were on Grady coma scale grade 3 and 4. 2 cases were on Grady coma scale grade 4 and 5 on admission. 6) 13 cases with traumatic hematomas in posterior cranial fossa were treated surgically and 13 cases conservatively. 3 of them were expired. 7) There were 61 cases associated injuries(52.1%). Commonly associated injuries were the fracture of rib, clavicle and femur. 8) 50 out of 117 cases showed sequelae:Motor weakness and cranial nerve palsies were main deficits. 9) The total mortality of traumatic posterior fossa lesions was 12.8%(15 cases) and the operative mortality was 15.4%(2 cases).