Interpreting CT scan head

This mnemonic is famous among radiologist for reading / diagnosing head injury CT scan.
Remember: Blood Can Be Very Bad

• Blood - Look for EDH (Lens Shaped) SDH (Sickle Shaped, Consider subdural window) Intraparenchymal Blood (Especially in the Basal Ganglia) Intraventricular Blood (Look for hydrocephalus) SAH (Blood in Cisterns and Fissures)
• Cisterns - Look for effacement and blood Circummesencephalic (Ring around the midbrain) Suprasellar (Star shaped at Circle of Willis) Quadrigeminal (W shaped) Sylvian (Between temporal and frontal lobes)
• Brain - Symmetry Gray/White Matter differentiation (Insular Ribbon) Shift Hyper/Hypodensities Pneumocephalus
• Ventricle - Effacement Shift Hydrocephalus (Examine sulci to differentiate between hydro and atrophy) Blood
• Bone - Skull fractures, especially basilar (Consider bone windows) Sinuses and Air cells (Look for Air/Fluid levels)

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