Clinicopathological investigation of gyral high density on computerized tomography following severe head injury in children

Abstract

✓ The authors have treated five cases of severe head trauma in children in which abnormally high density along gyri, “gyral high density,” was seen on plain computerized tomography (CT) scans in the subacute stage of the injury. The prognosis in all cases was poor, with either severe disability or a vegetative state as the outcome due to significant brain atrophy following gyral high density. This pathology was classified into three clinical stages: 1) acute stage, cerebral ischemia in which there is diffuse low density of the cerebrum on CT scans (most marked on the 3rd and 4th days); 2) subacute stage, hemorrhagic infarction showing gyral high density on plain CT scans (between 1 and 4 weeks); and 3) chronic stage, brain atrophy (beginning 4 weeks after the trauma). In their consecutive series of head-injured patients (516 children, 1459 adults), the authors did not find gyral high density on CT scan in adults. This is probably due to the fact that adults who suffer the severe head trauma associated with diffuse brain swelling or diffuse brain edema cannot survive, thus making this gyral high density unique to children.