Intended for healthcare professionals

Research Article

Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis in traumatic intracranial haematoma.

Br Med J 1976; 1 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.1.6023.1438 (Published 12 June 1976) Cite this as: Br Med J 1976;1:1438
  1. S Galbraith

    Abstract

    Out of 51 patients with traumatic intracranial haematoma admitted to a teaching hospital 11 (22%) died undiagnosed, and out of 307 such patients transferred to the West of Scotland Regional Neurosurgical Centre 111 (36%) had been deteriorating for more than 12 hours in another hospital. In two-thirds of these cases the delay was due to an erroneous diagnosis, either of cerebrovascular accident or of alcoholic intoxication.