Degenerative changes in traumatic brain injury: post-injury magnetic resonance identified ventricular expansion compared to pre-injury levels

Magnetic resonance (MR) scans obtained 42 days and 10 months post-injury were compared to scans obtained in similar planes three months prior to injury. In comparison to pre-injury scans, post-injury MR scan analysis demonstrated significant ventricular volume increase which is considered a measure of the degree of diffuse axonal injury. Most important, the trauma induced degenerative effects appeared to be quite complete by 42 days post-injury as there was little further degeneration that occurred between the 6 week and 10 month post-injury scans. This study demonstrates that in humans the majority of gross trauma-induced degenerative changes are complete by 6 weeks post-trauma.