Introduction:

Computed tomography is the neuroimaging study of choice for assessing intracranial injuries in trauma, however, there is currently an indiscriminate use of this resource to evaluate mild trauma, regardless of the radiation dose in children.

Objective:

To evaluate if there is an overuse of computed tomography in children with traumatic brain injury based on the criteria established by the clinical practice guide “Initial attention to traumatic brain injury in children under 18 years of age”.

Material and Methods:

An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out. Twenty-one studies of simple skull tomography of patients aged between 30 days and 18 years were reviewed by the Imaging Service of the Durango Sanatorium, from which the indications were obtained and evaluated if there was adherence to the clinical practice criteria comparing it with the imaging findings, applying the chi-square statistical test for two and k samples.

Results:

It was observed that the images of tomography with findings within normality are the most frequent, and when comparing the indications adherence (whether they adhered to the guide or not) against the findings by image it was determined that there was statistical significance (p < 0.001).

Discussion:

An overuse of computed tomography of the skull and a low adherence to the criteria of clinical practice was observed. The routine performance of computed tomography in mild traumatic head injuries is not justifiable, considering the possible harmful effects of ionizing radiation in children.

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