Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic Brain injury (TBI) is a complex injury with a broad spectrum of symptoms and disabilities and can produce lifelong neurologic and psychiatric deficits of varying severity.
Traumatic Brain Injury Type
The following symptoms should be aware of when evaluating traumatic brain injuries caused by an automobile accident:
Difficulty thinking
Slowed thinking or response times
Headache/nausea
Concentration difficulty
Coordination or balance difficulty
Difficulty dealing with emotions
Seizures
Numbness in extremities
Dilated or uneven pupils
If an injured person experiences any of the above symptoms, it’s crucial that he or she be evaluated by a medical care professional as soon as possible. With TBI, it may not be immediately apparent that treatment is needed, as some symptoms can take days or even weeks to appear. This means any damage that has taken place remains untreated and can lead to perhaps permanent damage.
How to diagnose hidden brain injuries?
What is DTI?
DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging) is the most sophisticated type of brain MRI imaging for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) detection. Providence Rezolut Imaging Centers are one of the few diagnostic imaging centers to offer this technique in CA. DTI(Diffusion Tensor Imaging) runs best on ultra-high 3 Tesla MRI.
How DTI detects TBI?
DTI is a quantitative measurement of water’s motion within tissue and can help estimate the amount of damage sustained by various nerve fibers within the brain. Diseased or injured areas will tend to diffuse more than normal. The data can be presented to visualize nerve fibers, which in turn allows a medical professional to easily identify disruptions that may have been caused by an injury.
Trauma from a motor vehicle accident can cause asymmetry in the 3D Tractography (Nerve Fiber Track) and quantitative FA (fractional anisotropy) values on the post-processed DTI images from Providence Rezolut Imaging Center indicating Axonal Injury.
The major axons in the brain are encased in myelin bundles. The FA values quantitatively reflect the structural integrity of the axons. This imaging is most accurate at 3 Tesla. The increased strength of the scanner allows for higher signal-to-noise ratio of data acquired and consistently more accurate measurements of FA values.
What is DTI FiberTrack?
A software that visualizes white matter trajectories in the brain and generates colored orientation maps.
What is SWI?
A multi-echo acquisition sequence with submillimeter resolution and a reconstruction algorithm that provides the ability to clearly delineate small vessels and microbleeds.
What is NeuroQuant?
A software( 3D T1 images) identifies several MRI Brain regions and measures the volume of each. NeuroQuant shows Brain atrophy to diagnose a variety of Brain disorders like Altzheimer's, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and traumatic brain injury.
providence Rezolut Imaging TBI Routine Protocol
Providence Rezolut Imaging TBI Routine Scan Protocol
Sagittal T1 Flair
Axial DWI
Axial T2 Flair
Axial 3D SWI
Coronal T2
Providence Rezolut Imaging TBI Special Protocol
DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging)
NeuroQuant (quantitative measurement of the brain)