Background: Even patients with normal computed tomography (CT) head imaging may experience persistent symptoms for months to years after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). There is currently no good way to predict recovery and triage patients who may benefit from early follow-up and targeted intervention. We aimed to assess if existing prognostic models can be improved by serum biomarkers or diffusion tensor imaging metrics (DTI) from MRI, and if serum biomarkers can identify patients for DTI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major source of health loss and disability worldwide. Accurate and timely diagnosis of TBI is critical for appropriate treatment and management of the condition. Neuroimaging plays a crucial role in the diagnosis and characterization of TBI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: We analysed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings after traumatic brain injury (TBI) aiming to improve the grading of traumatic axonal injury (TAI) to better reflect the outcome.
Methods: Four-hundred sixty-three patients (8-70 years) with mild (n = 158), moderate (n = 129), or severe (n = 176) TBI and early MRI were prospectively included. TAI presence, numbers, and volumes at predefined locations were registered on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and diffusion-weighted imaging, and presence and numbers on T2*GRE/SWI.
Traumatic axonal injury (TAI) is a common finding on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), and the burden of TAI is associated with outcome in this patient group. Lesion mapping offers a way to combine imaging findings from numerous individual patients into common lesion maps where the findings from a whole patient cohort can be assessed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the spatial distribution of TAI lesions on different MRI sequences and its associations to outcome with use of lesion mapping.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite enormous research interest in diffusion tensor imaging and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DTI; DKI) following mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), it remains unknown how diffusion in white matter evolves post-injury and relates to acute MTBI characteristics. This prospective cohort study aimed to characterize diffusion changes in white matter the first year after MTBI. Patients with MTBI ( = 193) and matched controls ( = 83) underwent 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 72 h and 3- and 12-months post-injury.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this prospective cohort study, we investigated associations between acute diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) metrics and persistent post-concussion symptoms (PPCS) 3 months after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Adult patients with mTBI ( = 176) and community controls ( = 78) underwent 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 72 h post-injury, estimation of cognitive reserve at 2 weeks, and PPCS assessment at 3 months. Eight DTI and DKI metrics were examined with Tract-Based Spatial Statistics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The aim in this study was to investigate if MRI findings of traumatic axonal injury (TAI) after traumatic brain injury (TBI) are related to the admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score and prolonged duration of posttraumatic amnesia (PTA).
Methods: A total of 490 patients with mild to severe TBI underwent brain MRI within 6 weeks of injury (mild TBI: median 2 days; moderate to severe TBI: median 8 days). The location of TAI lesions and measures of total TAI lesion burden (number and volume of lesions on FLAIR and diffusion-weighted imaging and number of lesions on T2*-weighted gradient echo or susceptibility-weighted imaging) were quantified in a blinded manner for clinical information.
Few have investigated long-term effect of treatment of posttraumatic olfactory dysfunction (OD). To explore if sequential treatment with corticosteroids and olfactory training (OT) improved smell in patients with OD after moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Twenty-two patients with persistent OD, mean 62 months after trauma, completed an open uncontrolled intervention study of treatment for 10 d with oral corticosteroids and thereafter for 3 months with OT twice daily.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The authors investigated the association between the cause of injury and the occurrence and grade of traumatic axonal injury (TAI) on clinical MRI in patients with moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Methods: Data for a total of 396 consecutive patients, aged 7-70 years, with moderate or severe TBI admitted to a level 1 trauma center were prospectively registered. Data were included for analysis from the 219 patients who had MRI performed within 35 days (median 8, IQR 4-17 days) and for whom cause of injury was known.
With an emphasis on traumatic axonal injury (TAI), frequency and evolution of traumatic intracranial lesions on 3T clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were assessed in a combined hospital and community-based study of patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The findings were related to post-concussion symptoms (PCS) at 3 and 12 months. Prospectively, 194 patients (16-60 years of age) were recruited from the emergency departments at a level 1 trauma center and a municipal outpatient clinic into the Trondheim mTBI follow-up study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: In this study we wanted to estimate population-based rates of incidence and mortality of moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children in one specific region in Norway.
Methods: In the region there are seven acute care hospitals (ACHs) in addition to a Level 1 trauma centre. Of 702 869 inhabitants (2014), 145 395 were children aged 0-16 years.
Background: Knowledge about the causes and time of injury for traumatic brain injury (TBI) is important for the development of efficient prevention policies. We aimed to study time of injury and relation to alcohol intoxication for moderate-to-severe TBI in a level 1 trauma center in Norway.
Methods: From October 2004 to September 2014, 493 consecutive patients (≥16 years) with moderate (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score 9-13) and severe TBI (GCS score 3-8) were prospectively included in the Trondheim TBI Study (222 patients with moderate and 270 patients with severe TBI).
Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med
October 2018
Blunt cerebrovascular injury (BCVI) is a non-penetrating injury to the carotid and/or vertebral artery that may cause stroke in trauma patients. Historically BCVI has been considered rare but more recent publications indicate an overall incidence of 1-2% in the in-hospital trauma population and as high as 9% in patients with severe head injury. The indications for screening, treatment and follow-up of these patients have been controversial for years with few clear recommendations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess the frequency and factors associated with posttraumatic olfactory dysfunction, including anosmia, in a follow-up of patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Methods: The setting was a cross-sectional study of patients that were consecutively included in the Trondheim TBI database, comprising injury-related variables. Eligible participants 18-65 years were contacted 9-104 months post trauma and asked olfactory-related questions.
Background: Patients with moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) often are studied together with patients with severe TBI, even though the expected outcome of the former is better. Therefore, we aimed to describe patient characteristics and 12-month outcomes, and to develop a prognostic model based on admission data, specifically for patients with moderate TBI.
Methods: Patients with Glasgow Coma Scale scores of 9-13 and age ≥16 years were prospectively enrolled in 2 level I trauma centers in Europe.
Objective: We aimed to examine the effect of preinjury antithrombotic medication on clinical and radiologic neuroworsening in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and study the effect on outcome.
Methods: A total of 184 consecutive patients ≥50 years old with moderate and severe TBI admitted to a level 1 trauma center were included. Neuroworsening was assessed clinically by using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score and radiologically by using the Rotterdam CT score on repeated time points.
The aim of this study was to investigate how traumatic axonal injury (TAI) lesions in the thalamus, basal ganglia, and brainstem on clinical brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are associated with level of consciousness in the acute phase in patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). There were 158 patients with moderate to severe TBI (7-70 years) with early 1.5T MRI (median 7 days, range 0-35) without mass lesion included prospectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) are a heterogeneous group with great variability in clinical course. Guidelines for monitoring and level of care in the acute phase are lacking. The main aim of this observational study was to describe injury severity and the acute phase course during the first three days post-injury in a cohort of patients with moderate TBI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis prospective study of traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients investigates fractional anisotropy (FA) from chronic diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in areas corresponding to persistent and transient traumatic axonal injury (TAI) lesions detected in clinical MRI from the early phase. Thirty-eight patients (mean 24.7 [range 13-63] years of age) with moderate-to-severe TBI and 42 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Mechanical ventilation with control of partial arterial CO2 pressures (PaCO2) is used to treat or stabilize intracranial pressure (ICP) in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Pressure-regulated volume control (PRVC) is a ventilator mode where inspiratory pressures are automatically adjusted to deliver the patient a pre-set stable tidal volume (TV). This may result in a more stable PaCO2 and thus a more stable ICP compared with conventional pressure control (PC) ventilation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObject: The influence of alcohol is assumed to reduce consciousness in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), but research findings are divergent. The aim of this investigation was to study the effects of different levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores in patients with moderate and severe TBI and to relate the findings to brain injury severity based on the admission CT scan.
Methods: In this cohort study, 265 patients (age range 16-70 years) who were admitted to St.
The objectives of this prospective study in 62 moderate-severe TBI patients were to investigate volume change in cortical gray matter (GM), hippocampus, lenticular nucleus, lobar white matter (WM), brainstem and ventricles using a within subject design and repeated MRI in the early phase (1-26 days) and 3 and 12 months postinjury and to assess changes in GM apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in normal appearing tissue in the cortex, hippocampus and brainstem. The impact of Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score at admission, duration of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA), and diffusion axonal injury (DAI) grade on brain volumes and ADC values over time was assessed. Lastly, we determined if MRI-derived brain volumes from the 3-month scans provided additional, significant predictive value to 12-month outcome classified with the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended after adjusting for GCS, PTA and age.
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