29 December 2009
American College of Emergency Physicians
Link,


DISEASE/CONDITION(S)
Mild traumatic brain injury

GUIDELINE CATEGORY
Diagnosis
Evaluation
Management

CLINICAL SPECIALTY
Emergency Medicine
Family Practice
Geriatrics
Internal Medicine
Neurology
Radiology
Sports Medicine

INTENDED USERS
Physicians

GUIDELINE OBJECTIVE(S)

• To provide evidence-based recommendations on select issues in the management of adult patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the acute setting
• To address the following critical questions:

1. Which patients with mild TBI should have a noncontrast head computed tomography (CT) scan in the emergency department (ED)?
2. Is there a role for head magnetic resonance imaging over noncontrast CT in the ED evaluation of a patient with acute mild TBI?
3. In patients with mild TBI, are brain-specific serum biomarkers predictive of an acute traumatic intracranial injury?
4. Can a patient with an isolated mild TBI and a normal neurologic evaluation result be safely discharged from the ED if a noncontrast head CT scan shows no evidence of intracranial injury?