Early computed tomographic abnormalities following profound cerebral hypoxia.

A patient became deeply comatose following a prolonged episode of cerebral hypoxia. Computed tomography performed within the first 24 hours showed marked hypodensity of the cerebral and cerebellar cortices, and the caudate and lenticular nuclei. These findings paralleled the distribution of typical hypoxic changes noted at postmortem examination. Computed tomographic abnormalities such as these may prove useful in establishing an early diagnosis of profound cerebral hypoxia.