Ultrasound in the Diagnosis of Head Injury

Abstract

Since 1953, the authors have been successful in the early diagnosis of intracranial hematomas by using the ultrasonic technique (Kikuchi et al., 1957; Abe et al., 1965–1967; Ito et al., 1966). In the early stages of diagnosing intracranial hematomas by ultrasound, much attention has been paid to the so-called midline echo. We had reported that this midline echo, if detected from the temporal region just ahead of and above the external ear, originates from the third ventricle walls according to numerous fundamental and clinical studies (Tanaka and Wagai, 1964). According to fundamental experiments, three characteristic changes in the echogram diagnosing head injuries by ultrasound were already pointed out as follows:

• 1. The shift of the third ventricle echo (= midline echo),

• 2. Detection of the intracranial hematoma echo,

• 3. Increase of the ultrasonic attenuation.