CHILDHOOD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY - NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL STATUS AT THE TIME OF HOSPITAL DISCHARGE

The present study examined the status at the time of hospital discharg e of 22 children who had sustained moderate to severe closed head inju ries. Despite an average length of stay of 46 days, on average the chi ldren performed significantly below normal on cognitive, memory, and m otor tests. The children who did the worst were those who sustained th eir injuries riding in a vehicle, as opposed to being hit by a vehicle while walking or riding a bicycle, No reliable associations were foun d between neuroimaging data and cognitive measures; however, children whose scans showed more diffuse severe injury (e.g. white matter hemor rhages) performed more poorly than those who did not, Of further impor tance were detailed morphometric analyses of tissue quantity and ventr icular volume that showed significantly increased ventricle to brain r atios (VBR) over a 3 to 4 week period following injury.