Correlation of fracture depression area and dural tear among patients with depressed skull fracture

Depressed skull fracture means to have a fracture that has a depth of more than a bone thickness. Consequently, the force is very small to a blunt object, which is often seen in the frontoparietal region due to the low bone thickness in the area. On the other hand, tearing of the dura matter beneath the depressed fractures has a great value from the prognostic and surgical point of view. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the area of the depressed fracture and dural tear using computerized tomography scan at admission.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 40 patients who had been diagnosed with depressed skull fractures atImam Reza Educational Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran,within2016-2017. The level of consciousness, the Glasgow Coma Scale, and symptoms on admission were evaluated for each patient. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 22) using studentchr('39')s t-test and Chi-square test for statistical analysis of parametric and nonparametric variables. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.

The mean age of the cases was obtained as 34/9±14/32 (18-60) years. The mean depressed fracture area (6/93±5/52) ranged from 0/79-19/63cm² (7.13±5.99) for the patients with dural tear and 6.93±5.66 for the ones with intact dura. The cut-off point for predicting dural tear was determined 6.92 cm² with 84% sensitivity.

It was revealed that there was a significant correlation between the area of fracture depression and dural tear. Furthermore, in patients with dural tear, fracture depression level was considerably higher than that in patients with intact dura.