Korean Journal of Radiology

The Korean Society of Radiology (대한영상의학회)
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Imaging Findings of Brain Death on 3-Tesla MRI

  • Sohn, Chul-Ho (Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Lee, Hwa-Pyung (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, CHA Gumi Medical Center, CHA University) ;
  • Park, Jun Beom (Department of Radiology, Korean Armed Force Daejeon Hospital) ;
  • Chang, Hyuk Won (Department of Radiology, Keimyung University College of Medicine, Dongsan Medical Center) ;
  • Kim, Ealmaan (Department of Neurosurgery, Keimyung University College of Medicine, Dongsan Medical Center) ;
  • Kim, Eunhee (Department of Surgery, Keimyung University College of Medicine, Dongsan Medical Center) ;
  • Park, Ui Jun (Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Kim, Hyoung-Tae (Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Ku, Jeonghun (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Keimyung University College of Medicine)
  • Published : 2012.10.01
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Abstract

Objective: To demonstrate the usefulness of 3-tesla (3T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), T2*-weighted gradient recalled echo (GRE), and susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) in diagnosing brain death. Materials and Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging findings for 10 patients with clinically verified brain death (group I) and seven patients with comatose or stuporous mentality who did not meet the clinical criteria of brain death (group II) were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Tonsilar herniation and loss of intraarterial flow signal voids (LIFSV) on T2WI were highly sensitive and specific findings for the diagnosis of brain death (p < 0.001 and < 0.001, respectively). DWI, TOF-MRA, and GRE findings were statistically different between the two groups (p = 0.015, 0.029, and 0.003, respectively). However, cortical high signal intensities in T2WI and SWI findings were not statistically different between the two group (p = 0.412 and 1.0, respectively). Conclusion: T2-weighted imaging, DWI, and MRA using 3T MRI may be useful for diagnosing brain death. However, SWI findings are not specific due to high false positive findings.

Keywords

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