Table 3.

Patient characteristics, S-100B categories and cranial CT (CCT) as well MRI findings of selected cases of the study group

Patient number	Age (years)	Gender	GCS on admission	Mechanism of injury	Risk factors	S-100B	CCT findings (n)	MRI findings (n)
1	40	Female	15	Fall	LOC, nausea, severe headache, anticoagulants	Elevated	Contusion (1), SDH (1)	Contusions (2), SDH (1)
2	26	Female	15	MVA	LOC, PTA, nausea, severe headache, dizziness	Elevated	Fracture (1)	Contusions (2), SAH (3)
3	42	Male	15	Fall	Intoxication	Elevated	SAH (1)	SAH (1), contusions (2)
4	22	Male	15	Fall	LOC, PTA	Elevated	Fracture (1), EDH (1)	EDH (1)
5	73	Female	15	MVA	LOC, PTA, severe headache, age over 60 years	Elevated	SDH (1)	SDH (1), contusions (1), SAH (1)
6	80	Female	15	Fall	Dizziness, anticoagulants, age over 60 years	Elevated	Contusion (1)	Cavernoma
7	54	Female	15	Fall	LOC, PTA, dizziness, intoxication	Elevated	Contusion (1)	Negative
8	33	Male	14	Fall	LOC, PTA, intoxication	Elevated	Contusion (1)	Negative
9	56	Male	15	MVA	PTA, LOC	Elevated	Contusion (1)	Negative
10	44	Male	15	MVA	LOC, severe headache	Not elevated	Contusion (1)	Negative
11	39	Male	15	MVA	Severe headache, dizziness	Not elevated	Contusion (1)	Negative
12	44	Male	15	MVA	LOC, severe headache	Not elevated	Contusion (1)	Negative

EDH, epidural haemorrhage; GCS, Glasgow Coma Scale; LOC, loss of consciousness; MVA, motor vehicle accident; PTA, post-traumatic amnesia; SAH, subarachnoid haemorrhage; SDH, subdural haemorrhage.

Elevated S-100B: concentrations >0.1 μg l⁻¹.

Cases 1–5 are patients with positive MRI findings. MRI shows additional trauma-related lesions compared with CCT (additional findings appear in bold type). Skull fractures were not diagnosed by MRI. Case 6 represents an example where MRI clearly distinguished a cavernoma from a suspected contusion. Cases 7–9 are patients with false-positive CCT findings in patients with elevated S-100B concentrations. Cases 10–12 are patients without elevated S-100B concentrations where the initial CCT was assessed as pathologic with suspicion of intracerebral contusions; MRI was able to rule out intracranial trauma, and therefore, these findings were interpreted as artefacts, in retrospect.