Emergency CT head (mnemonic)

Last revised by Andrew Murphy ◉ on 19 Sep 2021

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gomes B, Skandhan A, Warner R, et al. Emergency CT head (mnemonic). Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 21 Mar 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-21630

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-21630

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/21630

rID:

21630

Article created:

4 Feb 2013, Bruno Costa Gomes

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Bruno Costa Gomes had no recorded disclosures.

View Bruno Costa Gomes's current disclosures

Last revised:

19 Sep 2021, Andrew Murphy ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Andrew Murphy had no recorded disclosures.

View Andrew Murphy's current disclosures

Revisions:

23 times, by 8 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Central Nervous System

Sections:

Mnemonics

Tags:

emergencymedicine, emergency

Synonyms:

CT head (mnemonic)
Blood can be very bad (mnemonic)
Emergency CT brain (mnemonic)
CT brain (mnemonic)

A useful mnemonic which is used to read an emergency head CT scan is:

Blood Can Be Very Bad

Mnemonic

Using a systematic approach will help to ensure that significant neuropathology will not be missed.

B: blood
- look for epidural hematoma, subdural hematoma, intraparenchymal hemorrhage, intraventricular hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage and (also) extracranial hemorrhage
C: cisterns
- look for the presence of blood, effacement and asymmetry in four key cisterns (perimesencephalic, suprasellar, quadrigeminal and Sylvian cisterns)
B: brain
- look for asymmetry or effacement of the sulcal pattern, gray-white matter differentiation (including the insular ribbon sign), structural shifts and abnormal hypodensities (e.g. air, edema, fat) or hyperdensities (e.g. blood, calcification)
V: ventricles
- look for intraventricular hemorrhage, ventricular effacement or shift and for hydrocephalus
B: bone
- look for skull fractures (especially basal) on bone windows (soft tissue swelling, mastoid air cells and paranasal sinuses fluid in the setting of trauma should raise the possibility of a skull fracture; intracranial air means that the skull and the dura have been violated somewhere)