Post-traumatic disorders of consciousness: neuroimaging studies in the recovery process

Abstract

P urpose . Identify interconnectedness of the results of computed tomographic studies in patients at different stages of post-coma post-traumatic recovery of consciousness in the process of rehabilitation treatment. Materials and methods. The results of a study of 220 patients with traumatic post-coma disorders of consciousness were analyzed. On average, three CT examinations were performed in each patient within 12 months from the time of severe traumatic brain injury; 855 diagnostic examinations in total. Results. The features of post-traumatic focal and diffuse changes in the brain parenchyma have proved to be informative indicators of brain CT at different stages of consciousness recovery. Most patients were diagnosed with focal post-traumatic changes of moderate severity, which were combined with diffuse changes of mild and moderate severity, and it was they who demonstrated solid dynamics of consciousness recovery to the highest possible level. The calculation of correlation dependencies using the logarithmic scale (Log10) was performed. Conclusions. As a result of the calculation of correlation dependencies we identified the greatest significance of the severity of diffuse post-traumatic changes for the prediction of reaching higher levels of consciousness or staying in a vegetative state, and solid dynamics of consciousness recovery to the highest possible level in a group of patients with diagnosed focal post-traumatic changes of moderate severity combined with diffuse changes of mild and moderate severity were determined in the course of research.