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Purpose: A prospective study was initiated for the correlation of the findings in the initial cranial CT with the long-term follow-up MRI in children with severe head injury. Another aim was the evaluation of frequency and location of lesions, found only in MRI., Methods: 70 children with severe head injury and initially performed pathological CCT were followed up (mean time 3 years) by MRI., Results: 71% of the children had a pathological MRI. In 43% of the children with subdural bleeding could be found parenchymal lesions in the underlying cortex. All 15 children with epidural bleeding had unsuspicious findings at the former hematoma. All of the contusions were found as parenchymal residual lesions. 44% of the children had evidence of parenchymal lesions in the follow-up MRI initially and retrospectively not revealable. 16 lesions in the corpus callosum were only revealed by MRI., Conclusion: This study shows the higher sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging in non-hemorrhagic parenchymal lesions and in "diffuse axonal injury". A MRI-examination is recommended in children with severe head injury, especially in patients with normal CCT and posttraumatic neurological deficits.