Susceptibility-weighted imaging and CT in evaluation on traumatic brain injury

Objective To compare the effectiveness of susceptibility-weighted imaging(SWI) and CT in the assessment of hemorrhagic traumatic brain injury(TBI),and to establish the correlation between imaging measurements and clinical scores.Methods Twenty-five TBI patients underwent imaging examination with 16-detector MSCT and 1.5T MR system.The susceptibility weighted imaging minimum intensity projection(SWI MinIP) images were adopted for the visualization of hemorrhagic lesions.The area and number of hemorrhagic lesions were measured by SPIN software.Imaging data of SWI and CT were compared and the correlations with GCS scores were analyzed respectively.Differences between groups of GOS scores were also analyzed.Results Area of hemorrhagic lesions showed on SWI MinIP images was significantly greater than on CT images(P=0.021),and more hemorrhagic lesions were visible than on CT images(P0.05).GCS scores was negatively correlated with the hemorrhage area and number on both SWI and CT(all P0.05).Patients with poor prognosis had greater area and number of hemorrhagic lesions(all P0.05).Conclusion Compared with CT,SWI is much more sensitive in detecting and assessing hemorrhagic lesions in patients with TBI,which is also useful in evaluating patients' prognosis.