Acute Traumatic Cerebral Edema / 대한법의학회지

ABSTRACT

The swelling of the brain is very common after head injury. Initially, it is said to be due to dysfunction in the autoregulatory control of cerebral blood flow following head injury. Diffuse brain swelling, so called 'malignant brain edema', is rare except in children and adolescents. Similar condition is also well known as second impact syndrome of which the recent study questions the existence, when the sports-related head injury occurs especially in adolescents. Diffuse brain swelling can cause death or persistent vegetative state even though the head injury is mild. The authors report a case of acute traumatic cerebral edema without herniation.