Neuroimaging and neuropsychological functioning following closed head injury: CT, MRI, and SPECT

Citation

Wilson JTL & Wyper DJ (1992) Neuroimaging and neuropsychological functioning following closed head injury: CT, MRI, and SPECT. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 7 (2), pp. 29-39. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001199-199206000-00006

Abstract
Studies relating neuroimaging and neuropsychology after head injury are reviewed. Computed tomography (CT) is relatively insensitive to abnormalities after head injury, and work has concentrated on the neuropsychological significance of hematoma, ventricular enlargement, and atrophy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a more sensitive technique and reveals patterns of lesions after trauma. The complexity of the lesions found after head injury means that correspondences between abnormalities in particular locations and neuropsychological deficits have proven difficult to demonstrate. The evidence currently available stresses the importance of diffuse damage for neuropsychological outcome after head injury. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and related techniques provide information about abnormalities not given by structural techniques such as CT and MRI. The study of functional pathology after head injury is a new and fast developing area.

Journal
Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation: Volume 7, Issue 2

People

Professor Lindsay Wilson

Emeritus Professor, Psychology