While it is standard practice to repeat CT scans on patients within 24 hours after bleeding within the brain has been detected, researchers publishing in the January issue of the journal Neurosurgery have determined that a second CT is unnecessary in cases where the condition of patients is unchanged or they have improved neurologically.
In the study of 445 cases of adult patients with mild head injury who had evidence of bleeding within the brain, 5.6 percent of the patients required a change in treatment after the second CT scan. Nearly all of the patients who underwent further treatment developed neurological changes, leading to immediate CT scanning, while just 2 patients had a change in treatment based solely on repeated CT scans. Study