Radiologic Determination of Corpus Callosum Injury in Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Associated Clinical Characteristics

OBJECTIVE To investigate the incidence of corpus callosum injury (CCI) in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) using brain MRI. We also performed a review of the clinical characteristics associated with this injury. METHODS A total of 356 patients in the study were diagnosed with TBI, with 94 patients classified as having mild TBI. We included patients with mild TBI for further evaluation if they had normal findings via brain computed tomography (CT) scans and also underwent brain MRI in the acute phase following trauma. As assessed by brain MRI, CCI was defined as a high-signal lesion in T2 sagittal images and a corresponding low-signal lesion as determined by axial gradient echo (GRE) imaging. Based on these criteria, we divided patients into two groups for further analysis : Group I (TBI patients with CCI) and Group II (TBI patients without CCI). RESULTS A total of 56 patients were enrolled in this study (including 16 patients in Group I and 40 patients in Group II). Analysis of clinical symptoms revealed a significant difference in headache severity between groups. Over 50% of patients in Group I experienced prolonged neurological symptoms including dizziness and gait disturbance and were more common in Group I than Group II (dizziness : 37 and 12% in Groups I and II, respectively; gait disturbance : 12 and 0% in Groups I and II, respectively). CONCLUSION The incidence of CCI in patients with mild TBI was approximately 29%. We suggest that brain MRI is a useful method to reveal the cause of persistent symptoms and predict clinical prognosis.