Performing MRI scans within one month of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can yield important information about the patient’s neurocognitive and psychiatric health, according to research published in Journal of Affective Disorders.
“Few studies on TBI patients have focused on the radiological and clinical factors associated with the neurocognitive and psychiatric outcome,” wrote Nasser M. Aldossary, with Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia, and colleagues. “Thus, the aim of this study was to describe the neurocognitive and psychiatric outcomes of patients with TBI and to identify the radiological and clinical factors associated with the functional capacity 12 months after the injury.”
The authors studied data from 251 patients who had a conventional MRI at one of three hospitals in Saudi Arabia within one month of experiencing severe head trauma. All patients were between the ages of 18 and 60 years old and treated from 2014, through 2017. Patients had no history of psychiatric disorders or prior head trauma.
Overall, the MRI revealed evidence of diffuse axonal injury (DAI) in more than 72 percent of patients. The mean diffuse axonal injury volume (DAIV) was 10.9. Patients with DAI had “significantly deeper impairment of conscious level” than the patients who did not have DAI.
“MR imaging in the early subacute stage can accurately detect the presence of DAI and precisely localize its location,” the authors wrote. “A neurocognitive and psychiatric assessment during recovery will facilitate awareness of the cognitive and behavioral consequences of injury. Early detection of them will help professionals to start strategic therapeutic plans to avoid or at least ameliorate the effects of these potentially serious complications.”
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