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A sobering personal experience has convinced me to CT scan all G.C.S 15 head
injury patients on warfarin independent of their PT-INR.If its an acute presentation
it means a CT Head and admission for observation till improvement of the minor
symptoms(usually headache)with consideration to a repeat scan if symptoms worsen.If
its a delayed presentation(few days after the injury) its CT head and home if
scan is normal with usual HI advise.On evidence,a fellow registrar(now consultant)did
one of his topic reviews on the subject of management of warfarinised patients
with minor head injury and might want to share his opinion with the list(unless
he has already submitted it for publication!)To my knowledge,there are no prospective
studies only case reports and retrospective record reviews.The latest I found
was a research letter by Li and Brown reported in the Lancet(THE LANCET Vol
357 March 10 2001)recommending CT scan in all patients with head injury receiving
anticoagulants.It refuted the earlier work by Garra(Minor head injury in the
warfarinised patient-Acad Emergency Med 1999 Feb;6(2) 121-4)which seemed to
suggest CT scan may be unnecessary in the anticoagulated patient with minor
blunt head injury.Personally I don't see the numbers being large if we did go
ahead and scan all those who present and it could be part of a multi centre
prospective trial to settle the question once and for all.I suggest we call
it the WITHMI Study(Warfarin In Traumatic Head-Minor Injury).Are you with me?

Dilip Menon
North Wales