Introduction: Incidence of trauma is on the rise with the passage of time. Head injury being the most important resultant of trauma, is associated with the maximum morbidity and mortality. Head trauma leading to a depressed skull fracture carries a significant chance of underlying dural breach and tear, which is associated with dreadful complications, and is hence an integral issue that needs to be meticulously dealt with Objective: To determine the incidence of dural tears in patients presenting with depressed skull fracture after head injury at a tertiary care hospital. Materials & Methods: This study was conducted at Department of Neurosurgery, Civil Hospital Karachi. All the patients, between 13-60 years of age of either gender, who presented with head injury and diagnosed as a case of depressed skull fracture on the basis of CT scan brain plain findings and were managed surgically were included in the study. Patients with severe brain injury were excluded from the study. Results: Study was conducted from 8th March 2022 to 7th March 2023. A total of 309 patients were included in the study. Male to female ratio is 2.32. Road traffic accident was the most common mechanism of injury, followed by fall from height. Most common site of depressed fracture was frontal bone. Simple DSF was found in 197 (63.8%) patients while 112 (36.2%) patients had compound DSF. Dural tear was observed in a total of 174 (56.3%) patients and was absent in 135 (43.7%).
Keywords: Skull fracture, head injury, trauma