Medizinische Universität Graz Austria/Österreich - Forschungsportal - Medical University of Graz
Gewählte Publikation:
Schernthaner, J.
Forensic reconstruction of mild traumatic brain injuries in children and adolescent using MRI
Humanmedizin; [ Diplomarbeit ] Graz Medical University; 2017. pp. 57
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- Autor*innen der Med Uni Graz:
- Betreuer*innen:
- Ogris Kathrin
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- Abstract:
- Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is the major type of traumatic brain injuries and in particular children and adolescent are frequently affected by it. Although most patients recover fully within two weeks or less, some symptoms like headache and sleep disturbance can last for up to three months or even longer. While conventional imaging techniques mostly do not show any changes of the brain tissue after mTBI, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques like diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) make the detection of microstructural changes in the brain possible. The fractional anisotropy and the mean diffusivity are measurement values for evaluating the diffusion of water molecules in different types of tissue. This makes it possible to identify if the integrity of the tissue is unimpaired or if microscopical injuries of fiber tracts are present. Multimodal MRI scans cannot only improve diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic methods of mTBI, but may also support forensic medicine in investigating mechanisms of mTBI. The aim of this study was to identify by use of a multimodal MRI whether specific injury mechanisms lead to specific injury patterns and if it is possible to reconstruct the events of an accident by comparing the morphology of injuries and the standardly collected patients’ data. MRI scans were performed on ten patients with mTBI aged ten to 18 years within seven days after the accident. Additionally, the data of patients collected at the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Surgery at the LKH-Univ. Klinikum Graz, such as S100B blood levels, computer tomography images, external lesions and the anamnesis were gathered and analysed. Of the MRI data set, only the images of the DTI series were evaluated and compared to data of other studies in this field. The comparison of the measurements of this research and those of healthy controls in former studies showed significant changes of fractional anisotropy in special regions of interest. To find out if certain injury mechanisms lead to specific injury patterns in MR images, much more research on this topic is necessary. This diploma thesis may provide helpful information and advice for planning future studies on this subject.