1H-Magnetic resonance spectroscopy correlates with injury severity and can predict coma duration in patients following severe traumatic brain injury.

BACKGROUND

Evaluation of the degree of severity of injury, coma duration, and prediction of outcome are integral parts of present-day management of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether evaluation and prediction of outcome in early phase after severe TBI is possible by means of single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Proton spectra were acquired from the posterior part of normal-appearing frontal lobes having predominantly white matter in 72 patients with severe TBI within a few days of trauma, mean 9.5 days and also in 30 controls.

RESULTS

1 H-MRS studies revealed lower ratios of N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/Choline (Cho) and NAA/ Creatine (Cr) and higher ratios of Cho/Cr in patients with TBI when compared to the control group. In patients with severe TBI, NAA/Cr, NAA/Cho and Cho/Cr ratios were significantly correlated with the initial Glasgow Coma Scale score (GCS) (P=0.004, r =0.439, P=0.018, r =0.364, P=0.004, r = -0.762, respectively), and with the clinical outcome, Glasgow Outcome Scores (GOS) (P=0.006, r =0.414; P=0.007, r =0.412; P=0.016, r = -0.775, respectively). An equation including clinical and spectroscopic variables, which can predict coma duration fairly accurately, was also obtained.

CONCLUSIONS

1 H-MRS may be a novel method of assessing brain function, estimating coma duration, and predicting outcome in patients with severe TBI.