Traumatic brain injury

Abstract

New technologies, as well as advances in existing ones, have changed how both healthy and injured brains are evaluated in research and clinical settings. In combination with the traditional neuromedical examination and psychometric testing, functional neuroimaging is providing a means through which additional information about brain structure, function, and recovery may be obtained. Enthusiasm for functional neuroimaging advances can be readily appreciated, yet it must be balanced by the need for empirical evidence and a healthy level of caution. Increasingly, clinicians are encountering advanced imaging techniques (e.g. single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)) in persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Clinical application of most of these techniques still remains investigational, however, within the context of TBI.1 This chapter provides an overview of several functional neuroimaging procedures and their applications in the context of TBI. It also addresses many limitations of these procedures, with implications for exercising caution if they are utilized in clinical evaluation.