title: The possibility of application of spiral brain computed tomography to traumatic brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The spiral computed tomography (CT) with the advantage of low radiation dose, shorter test time required, and its multidimensional reconstruction is accepted as an essential diagnostic method for evaluating the degree of injury in severe trauma patients and establishment of therapeutic plans. However, conventional sequential CT is preferred for the evaluation of traumatic brain injury (TBI) over spiral CT due to image noise and artifact. We aimed to compare the diagnostic power of spiral facial CT for TBI to that of conventional sequential brain CT.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated retrospectively the images of 315 traumatized patients who underwent both brain CT and facial CT simultaneously. The hemorrhagic traumatic brain injuries such as epidural hemorrhage, subdural hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and contusional hemorrhage were evaluated in both images. Statistics were performed using Cohen's κ to compare the agreement between 2 imaging modalities and sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of spiral facial CT to conventional sequential brain CT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Almost perfect agreement was noted regarding hemorrhagic traumatic brain injuries between spiral facial CT and conventional sequential brain CT (Cohen's κ coefficient, 0.912). To conventional sequential brain CT, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of spiral facial CT were 92.2%, 98.1%, 95.9%, and 96.3%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In TBI, the diagnostic power of spiral facial CT was equal to that of conventional sequential brain CT. Therefore, expanded spiral facial CT covering whole frontal lobe can be applied to evaluate TBI in the future.
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: Daesung
authors: D
authors: Lim
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-Do, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: ssoon0702@naver.com.
authors: Soo Hoon
authors: SH
authors: Lee
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-Do, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kloud14@hanmail.net.
authors: Dong Hoon
authors: DH
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Radiology, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-Do, Republic of Korea.
authors: Dae Seub
authors: DS
authors: Choi
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: Hoon Pyo
authors: HP
authors: Hong
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-Do, Republic of Korea.
authors: Changwoo
authors: C
authors: Kang
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-Do, Republic of Korea.
authors: Jin Hee
authors: JH
authors: Jeong
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-Do, Republic of Korea.
authors: Seong Chun
authors: SC
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-Do, Republic of Korea.
authors: Tae-Sin
authors: TS
authors: Kang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D020201:Brain Hemorrhage, Traumatic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult