Background/Aims:

This study aimed at documenting the patterns of intracranial hemorrhage encountered by means of brain computed tomography (CT) scan and characterizing the chief complaint that led to the diagnosis.

Methods:

All the brain CT scans performed in a hospital serving 334,081 inhabitants in a 1-year period were reviewed. Categories of clinical situations and imaging findings were correlated among themselves and with population data to obtain incidence rates.

Results:

A total of 8516 patients (M/F ratio 0.83; mean age 63.31) underwent brain CT scans and hemorrhage was present in 448 (5.26%). Head injury was the most frequent complaint motivating brain CT scan (30.11%) and acute subdural hemorrhage the most frequent pattern encountered (37.05%). An incidence rate of intracranial hemorrhage of 134.10, a global incidence rate of head injury of 767.48, and an incidence rate of hemorrhage of 76.33/100,000/year in the context of trauma were found. Incidence rates of hemorrhagic patterns more likely to be associated with a spontaneous origin add up to 45.2/100,000/year.

Conclusion:

Traumatic patterns of hemorrhage are more frequent than those of spontaneous nature and head injury the most frequent indication for brain CT scan study. Although within the ranges reported in literature, incidence rates of hemorrhage in the studied population rank low for trauma and spontaneous subarachnoid and high for intracerebral. This indicator serves to characterize the health status of the community.