MRI of the Posttraumatic Cerebral Parenchymatous Injuries

The authors retrospecitviely analyzed the MRI findings of the 8 head-injured patiens who had showed persistent unconsciousness and severe neurologic deficite after trauma. T2-weighted MR images disclosed high signal intensity lesions of various size and shape at lobar white matter and corpus callosum, subcortical gray matter, brain stem, and cerebral cortex, and assisted greatly in understanding the neurologic deficits of the corresponding patients. The lesions were mostly multiple and involved multiple structures. CT's revealed in those patients only small hemorrhages, suspicious low densities, such nonspecific findings as slit ventricles and diffuse brain atrophy, or no abnormality at all. Post-traumatic parenchymatous lesions detected by MR images were either missed or quite underestimated on CT's. MRI was very supeior to CT in the detection and anatomic localization of nonhemorrhagic intraaxial cerebral injuries. especially in the cases of small corical contusions, brainstem and white matter injuries. For the evaluation of the acute posttraumatic patients, CT ios indicated in order to fastly detect intracranial hemagomas which may need emergent surgical evacuation. If CT findings does not explain the neurologic degicits of the patients, especially in the late stage. MRI is indicated. MRI is expected to play a major role in the diagnosis of shear injuries involoving white matter and brainstem where CT has been of little contribution or misleading.

A Case of Intracranial Meningeal Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma: A Case Report

Recently, the authors have experienced a case of intracranial meningeal mesenchymal chondrosarcoma. Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma is a rare tumor of the bone and soft tissue. It has been reported that the most common site of their extra-osseous origin is the central nervous system. Precise differential diagnosis should be done because of 1) its similarity to angioblastic meningioma or hemangiopericytoma in pathological aspect, 2) much more malignant tendency. We present one case of intracranial meningeal mesechymal chondrosarcoma with a brief review of the relevant literature.

Clinical Analysis of Acute Epidural Hematoma

The authors have analyzed the factors influencing the outcome of the 168 patients with acute epidural hematoma who had been managed in our hospital for 3 years from July 1986 to June 1989. 1) Sex incidence showed that male patients were 4.8 times more commonly affected than females, and the most commonly affected age group was the 3rd decade. 2) The most common cause of injury was motor vehicle accidents. The patients with unknown cause of injury which probably suggested significant delay in starting the clinical managements had a higher mortality rate. 3) The most common site of hematoma was the FTP convexity(63.6%). The patients with diffuse hematoma in the fronto-temporo-parietal region had a high mortality and deteriorated level of consciousness. 4) Skull fractures were not seen only in 9.5% of the patients with acute epidural hematoma. 5) The main factors associated with the higher mortality rate were rapid development of hematoma, pupillary dilatation, low score in Glasgow Coma Scale on arrival, and more midline shifting on brain CT. 6) The patients with concomitant intracranial lesions had a high mortality rate(25.8%), and the patients with acute epidural hematoma alone had a low rate(2%), and the overall mortality rate of the patients with acute epidural hematoma was 11.3%.