A patient had a head injury in road traffic accident and had lost consciousness instantaneously. After few minutes he regains consciousness. Spontaneous eye opening without any muscular weakness and is fully aware of his surroundings. GCS score is E4V5M6 . However, the patient continues to complain headache, dizziness, nausea,faintness and an episode of emesis. What is the severity of his head injury?
High-Yield Explanation
The patient in this scenario is experiencing typical symptoms of Concussion syndrome/ Mild brain injury. Patient may also have blurring of vision or brief period of amnesia. Such cases have good prognosis with little chance of deterioration. Persistent severe headache and repeated vomiting in the context of normal aleness and no focal neurological signs is usually benign, but CT should be obtained and a longer period of observation is appropriate. If the impact is severe,the patient will be having:- Persistent confusion Repeated vomiting Palpable skull fracture Any other serious bodily injuries,etc. Note- Lucid interval (Consciousness between two periods of unconsciousness) is characteristic of extradural haemorrhage in which lentiform opacity is seen on NCCT head