Case Study

CT- Closed skull fracture of the frontal bone with intracranial hemorrhage in a 3 year old FS Chihuahua dog

This 3 year old FS Chihuahua dog presented with recent fall onto tile. MRI normal, no fractures noted.

Image Interpretation

CT of the head, cervical and cranial thoracic spine, plain series- There is a curvilinear fracture with minor displacement at the caudolateral aspect of the
left frontal bone of approximately 1.2 cm length. Minor focal swelling of the overlying
muscles is noted. The adjacent brain parenchyma reveals a lentiform focus of
heterogeneously increased attenuation ranging at +100HU, which is compatible with
acute haemorrhage.
A mild increase of soft tissue is noted onto the nasal turbinates of the left nasal cavity.
The remainder of the skull bones are negative for traumatic bone injury.
The cervical and cranial thoracic vertebrae are well aligned. There is no evidence of
displacement or traumatic bone injury. The alignment of the atlantooccipital and
atlantoaxial transition is within normal limits.
The included ribs and lung lobes do not show evidence of traumatic injury.

DX

There is a leftsided acute traumatic closed skull fracture of the frontal bone mild intracranial haemorrhage

Outcome

The haemorrhage exerts only a minor mass effect and is
likely to be located within the epidural or subdural space. An intraparenchymal
haemorrhage is less likely.
The assessment for increased intracranial pressure is limited based on CT. As far as
assessable no cerebellar herniation can be identified here. The findings within the left nasal cavity are suggestive for mild haemorrhage. He
changes may be unrelated to the trauma and indicative for mild non-destructive
unspecific rhinitis as well.