TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1999//
TI  - Head injuries at a Provincial General Hospital in Kenya
JO  - East African medical journal
A1  - Muyembe, V. M.
A1  - Suleman, N.
SP  - 200
EP  - 205
VL  - 76
IS  - 4
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To review the pattern of head injuries, their management and the outcome. DESIGN: A retrospective and prospective descriptive study. SETTING: The Surgical Department, the Intensive Care Unit and the Mortuary at the Provincial General Hospital, Nyeri, Kenya. SUBJECTS: Three hundred and sixty one patients who were seen in the above units with any element of head injury from January 1995 to June 1996. RESULTS: Two hundred and fifty (69.3%) patients were admitted, treated and discharged. Eleven (3.0%) patients died in hospital while 100 (27.7%) were brought in dead. Head injuries accounted for 8.3% of the total admissions to the surgical wards. Road traffic accidents and assault were responsible for over 70% of the head injuries seen. Scalp wounds (52.6%) and fracture of the skull (47.9%) formed the commonest components of head injury. Skull X-rays films were the leading investigation done for head injury. A low Glascow coma scale was associated with a poor outcome. CONCLUSION: Head injuries are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in our set-up, especially in the young.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0012-835X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -