Frequency of Common Computed Tomography Findings among Clinically Undiagnosed Patients of Acute Severe Headache

Introduction: Headache is the commonest neurological symptom seen in general practice. Lifetime headache in general population of UK is over 90% prevalent. The most common cause of such headaches is sub arachnoid hemorrhage. Early and accurate recognition and diagnosis of such headaches is very important as it is indicative of serious underlying disorder.Objective: To determine the frequency of common computed tomography (CT) findings among clinically undiagnosed patients of acute severe headache.Materials and Methods: There were 203 CT scan of clinically undiagnosed patients of acute severe headache, performed after consent from the patients. All the CT reporting were done by single experience radiologist and findings were recorded. The study was designed as Cross sectional descriptive study from February 2017 to September 2017 at department of Radiology, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar.Results: Out of total 203 patients, male to female ratio was 0.87:1. Average age of the patients was 35.38 ± 10.83 years with age range of 18-60 years. The commonest radiological finding was sub arachnoid hemorrhage which was observed in 49 (24.1%) patients.Conclusion: CT finding shows that sub arachnoid hemorrhage was found in majority of clinically undiagnosed patients of acute severe headache