COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY AND SINGLE-PHOTON EMISSION COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY ASDIAGNOSTIC-TOOLS IN ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY AMONG CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

Twenty children with acquired brain injuries were investigated with GT and SPECT. The findings were related to the clinical outcome judged a t discharge following acute care after the injury and at follow-up 5 y ears later, The abnormalities that were found were classifier? for eac h lobe on a scale ranging from 0 (normal) to 5 (severe abnormality). T he patients were divided into two groups showing mild and severe injur y. CT and SPECT revealed similar results in the patients with severe i njury, but in the group of mildly injured children the number of affec ted lobes and scores indicated by SPECT were significantly higher than those indicated by CT. SPECT also differentiated more effectively bet ween the two outcome groups. This supports the hypothesis that SPECT c ould be used as an instrument to objectivise ruiner sequelae and that SPECT and GT are both useful methods for forecasting outcome.