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 (MRDTI), 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.
Skoglund
T S
TS
Department of Neurosurgery, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, SE-413 45 Göteborg, Sweden. thomas.skoglund@vgregion.se
Nilsson
D
D
Ljungberg
M
M
Jönsson
L
L
Rydenhag
B
B
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis*; D020833:Diffuse Axonal Injury / Q000175:diagnosis; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D011149:Pons / Q000473:pathology; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013995:Time