Clinical Significance of Morphological Changes of Ambient Cisterns Observed by Computed Tomography Scanning in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury

【Objective】 To study the clinical significance of morphological changes of ambient cisterns on computed tomography scanning in the patients suffering traumatic brain injury.【Methods】 A prospective study was carried out on 152 hospitalized cases of traumatic brain injury.Initial CT scanning was performed in all cases less than 12 hours after trauma.The CT scan features including the states of ambient cisterns of 152 cases were evaluated.All cases were divided into 6 groups according to the width of ambient cistern: 0mm,0~0.5mm,0.5~1mm,1~2mm,2~3mm and more than 3mm group.The patients in each group were divided into unfavorable(dead,vegetative status,severe disability) and favorable outcome(good recovery/moderate disability) based on GOS after 3-month following-up.The relationship between the state of ambient cisterns and the GCS score and the prognosis of patients were analyzed statistically.【Results】There was a significant relationship between the state of ambient cisterns and the GCS score(r=0.564,P0.01),and the more obvious the morphological changes of ambient cisterns,the lower GCS score was.The mortality rate or the possibility to be vegetative state of the patients with ambient cistern narrower than 1mm was very high.【Conclusion】 There is a significant relationship between the state of ambient cisterns and the prognosis of the patient with traumatic brain injury.Therefore,the state of ambient cisterns can provide useful information about the patients'prognosis.