title: Significance of minor traumatic lesions in focal head injuries.
abstract: We investigated the significance of minor traumatic lesions associated with focal head injuries. Patients included in the study were admitted between January 2003 and December 2007 and had sustained a head injury with focal injury and undergone MRI examination including T2(∗)-weighted imaging. Patients were divided into two groups: (i) a T2(∗)-positive group - those who had hypointense lesions at sites other than the original injury site as shown by T2(∗)-weighted MRI (n=12); and (ii) a control group without hypointense lesions at sites other than the original injury (n=25). The median Glasgow Outcome Scale score was significantly lower in the T2(∗)-positive group (median=4; range=4-5) than in the control group (median=5; range=4-5; p=0.003). We conclude that patients with a focal head injury and minor traumatic lesions are likely to have a poorer prognosis than patients without additional minor traumatic lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Traumatology and Critical Care Medicine, National Defense Medical College (NDMC), 3-2 Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-8513, Japan. yanagawa@ndmc.ac.jp
authors.forename: Youichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yanagawa
authors.forename: Toshihisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D055815:Young Adult