Children with TBIBoth CTs and MRIs come with risks — from sedative drugs to levels of radiation. Depending on the severity of brain injury, parents and doctors should always consider the risk-benefit ratio.
Posted on BrainLine January 9, 2013.
Produced by Victoria Tilney McDonough and Jared Schaubert, BrainLine, and Dan Edblom.
About the author: Rachel Berger, MD, MPH
Rachel Berger MD, MPH is part of the Child Advocacy Center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and a member of the hospital’s Child Protection Team. She has been involved in the evaluation of thousands of children with suspected child abuse and neglect.
Comments (2)
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KennyLLC replied on Permalink
I had a TBI in February and a CT scan one week later. It showed absolutely nothing wrong.
Then another CT scan in May after head pain and seizures.
Nothing.
Then after my replacement primary physician diagnosed me only with PTSD and told me the CT scan was "absolutely definitive". She refused to order an MRI and feigned a referral to get me to a neurologist.
Her pride got the best of her !
I went over her head to another doctor to get a referral to see a neurologist and two types of MRI's.
I have a CSF leak from my 4th ventricle, a shrinking brain, an adult onset Dandy Walker variant, seizures, slow brainwaves, and leaking CSF fluid into my sinuses that is now drowning my lungs.
CT scans are worthless for closed-head TBI's if it is the sole source of imaging.
The idiots are guarding the gate to the neurological village.
KennyLLC replied on Permalink
I had a TBI in February and a CT scan one week later. It showed absolutely nothing wrong.
Then another CT scan in May after head pain and seizures.
Nothing.
Then after my replacement primary physician diagnosed me only with PTSD and told me the CT scan was "absolutely definitive". She refused to order an MRI and feigned a referral to get me to a neurologist.
Her pride got the best of her !
I went over her head to another doctor to get a referral to see a neurologist and two types of MRI's.
I have a CSF leak from my 4th ventricle, a shrinking brain, an adult onset Dandy Walker variant, seizures, slow brainwaves, and leaking CSF fluid into my sinuses that is now drowning my lungs.
CT scans are worthless for closed-head TBI's if it is the sole source of imaging.
The idiots are guarding the gate to the neurological village.