1 Departments of Radiology, Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston
The incidence of abnormal brain scans was high in children with symptoms of increased intracranial pressure, focal motor signs or meningitis. In patients with seizure disorders, headache (alone) and mental retardation, abnormal brain scan findings occurred in 1%, 2%, and 4% of the cases, respectively; thus the routine use of brain scanning as a screening procedure of the patients may be questionable. The true-positive rate of brain scans in this series was 83%. Cerebral radioisotope angiography (CRA) increased the true-positive rate by 3% when done selectively.
Cerebral radioisotope angiography was frequently abnormal in patients referred for early diagnosis of cerebrovascular accidents, when the brain scan was most frequently normal.
The high yield and sensitivity of brain scanning for diagnosis of brain abscess was confirmed in this study. The brain scan was found very useful in localizing brain abscess for surgical drainage and to assess the results of therapy.
Submitted on November 26, 1973