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Medical AI Inquiry: You were designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.
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A 24- year old man falls on the ground when he is struck in the right temple by a baseball. While being driven to the hospital, he lapses into coma. He is unresponsive with the dilated right pupil when he reaches the emergency depament. The most impoant step in initial management is:
assistant
The correct answer is  Answer is A (Craniotomy): Coma with a dilated pupil after a lucid interval following a head injury must be assumed to represent an epidural hematoma. Emergency evacuation of the clot without time-consuming studies is vital to restore cerebral function. With a patient in less critical condition, a CT scan is the appropriate diagnostic study.