Intracranial extradural hematoma: Spontaneous rapid decompression – not resolution

The surgical option to evacuate an intracranial extradural hematoma (EDH) was postponed in a 2-year-old female child who appeared fully alert and active after a brief spell of unconsciousness following a fall from height. The child was received, with a swelling on and around the right parietal eminence, by the emergency staff just half an hour after the time of injury. The immediate X-ray skull and first computed tomography (CT) scan head showed a parietal bone fracture, EDH, and cephalhematoma. However, follow-up CT scan head after about 4½ h revealed the dramatic absence of EDH but increased size and bogginess of cephalhematoma. The EDH had transported into subgaleal space resulting in a decompression of intracranial compartment in <5 h, thereby preventing surgical intervention but necessitating monitoring, though there was no back flow intracranially.