Long-Term Follow-up of a Patient with Traumatic Brain Injury Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging

• This case report describes a patient who sustained severe head trauma with diffuse axonal injury (DAI). Examination with magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (MR-DTI), 6 days post-injury, showed a severe reduction in fractional anisotropy (FA) in the rostral pons containing the corticospinal tract, which correlated to the patient's severe hemiparesis. By 18 months post-accident, the patient had recovered completely and conventional MRI showed no pathology. However, although her FA values in the rostral pons had increased, they were still not normalized. It seems that a complete normalization of the FA values is not required to achieve clinical recovery, and that MR-DTI seems to be more sensitive to DAI compared to conventional MRI.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Kirurgi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Surgery (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Radiologi och bildbehandling (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)