Imaging for the Diagnosis and Management of Traumatic Brain Injury

To understand the role of imaging in traumatic brain injury (TBI), it is important to appreciate that TBI encompasses a heterogeneous group of intracranial injuries and includes both insults at the time of impact and a deleterious secondary cascade of insults that require optimal medical and surgical management. Initial imaging identifies the acute primary insult that is essential to diagnosing TBI, but serial imaging surveillance is also critical to identifying secondary injuries such as cerebral herniation and swelling that guide neurocritical management. Computed tomography (CT) is the mainstay of TBI imaging in the acute setting, but magnetic resonance tomography (MRI) has better diagnostic sensitivity for nonhemorrhagic contusions and shear-strain injuries. Both CT and MRI can be used to prognosticate clinical outcome, and there is particular interest in advanced applications of both techniques that may greatly improve the sensitivity of conventional CT and MRI for both the diagnosis and prognosis of TBI

Cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhoea : diagnosis and management

A cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhoea occurs when there is a fistula between the dura and the skull base and discharge of CSF from the nose. CSF rhinorrhea or liquorrhoea commonly occurs following head trauma (fronto-basal skull fractures), as a result of intracranial surgery, or destruction lesions. A spinal fluid leak from the intracranial space to the nasal respiratory tract is potentially very serious because of the risk of an ascending infection which could produce fulminant meningitis. This article reviewed the causes, diagnosis and treatment of CSF leakage. A PUBMED search of the National Library of Medicine was conducted. CSF leak most commonly occurs following trauma and the majority of cases presenting within the first three months. CSF rhinorrhoea have significantly greater incidence of periorbital haematoma. This suggests that patients with head injuries and features of periorbital haematoma are at greater risk of unobserved dural tear and delayed CSF leakage. In the presence of a skull base fracture on computed tomography and a clinical CSF leak, there is no need for a further confirmatory test. In cases where a confirmatory test is needed, the beta-2 transferrin assay is the test of choice because of its high sensitivity and specificity. A greater proportion of the CSF leaks in the patients resolved spontaneously. CSF fistulae persisting for > 7 days had a significantly increased risk of developing meningitis. Treatment decisions should be dictated by the severity of neurological decline during the emergency period and the presence/absence of associated intracranial lesions. The timing for surgery and CSF drainage procedures must be decided with great care and with a clear strategy

Image processing for plastic surgery planning

This thesis presents some image processing tools for plastic surgery planning. In particular, it presents a novel method that combines local and global context in a probabilistic relaxation framework to identify cephalometric landmarks used in Maxillofacial plastic surgery. It also uses a method that utilises global and local symmetry to identify abnormalities in CT frontal images of the human body. The proposed methodologies are evaluated with the help of several clinical data supplied by collaborating plastic surgeons

Skeletal imaging of child abuse (non-accidental injury)

In recent years there has been a worldwide increased awareness that children are physically abused by their carers. Radiologists play a vital role in the detection of inflicted injuries. This article reviews the skeletal imaging findings seen in child abus