SELECTED CASES OF POOR OUTCOME FOLLOWING A MINOR BRAIN TRAUMA - COMPARING NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY ASSESSMENT

Neuropsychological residua are common particularly in the early stages following a minor traumatic brain injury (TBI), however, a minority o f individuals complain of persistent deficits following months or year s post-accident. Nine such cases are presented with little or no evide nce of brain damage demonstrated according to non-functional neuroimag ing (for example CT, MRI), yet their neuropsychological examinations w ere positive. Since the introduction of positron emission tomography ( PET), which captures afunctional approach, the question arose as to wh at extent the two techniques (i.e. PET and neuropsychological examinat ion) are interrelated. All nine minor TBI cases revealed a corroborati on between the positive neuropsychological findings confirmed on the P ET. The PET procedure documented neuropathology which frequently was p ronounced in the frontal and anteriotemporo-frontal regions. Moreover, no significant differences were evident between those five cases with reported loss of consciousness vs. those four cases without.