Cranial fractures

A cranial fracture is a bone fracture associated with head and face. It is usually associated with brain contusion or other types of bleeding inside the cranial vault. Immediate evaluation and treatment is necessary in most instances.

In some cases, due to the blunt trauma associated with cranial fracture, bleeding below the fracture, inside the skull may compress normal cerebral tissue, necessitating urgent surgical management.

Symptoms may include pain in the area affected, cerebrospinal fluid leak, periorbital hematomas, or behind the ears.

For a proper diagnosis, the information given by the patient or people near the scene is important to complete the evaluation, during these time period a quick neurological evaluation is performed in order to establish a clinical picture.

In order to complete the evaluation image studies, such as X rays, CT scans or in some instances MRI, are done.

Depending on the severity of trauma and finding, surgery may be needed, trying to repair the skull or releasing the pressure of the brain due to a bleeding inside the brain