Gliding contusions in nonmissile head injury in humans.

"Gliding" contusions, ie, hemorrhagic lesions in the parasagittal white matter, were analyzed in 434 fatal nonmissile head injuries in humans. It is concluded that gliding contusions are a type of diffuse brain damage occurring at the moment of injury. Gliding contusions are significantly associated with road-traffic accidents, with the absence of a skull fracture or a "lucid interval," and with the presence of diffuse axonal injury and deep hemispheric traumatic hematomas.