A new improved method for assessing brain deformation after decompressive craniectomy
Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is a surgical intervention used following traumatic brain injury to prevent or alleviate raised intracranial pressure. However the clinical effectiveness of the intervention remains in doubt. The location of the craniectomy (unilateral or bifrontal) might be expected t...
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Published in | PloS one Vol. 9; no. 10; p. e110408 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Public Library of Science
10.10.2014
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is a surgical intervention used following traumatic brain injury to prevent or alleviate raised intracranial pressure. However the clinical effectiveness of the intervention remains in doubt. The location of the craniectomy (unilateral or bifrontal) might be expected to change the brain deformation associated with the operation and hence the clinical outcome. As existing methods for assessing brain deformation have several limitations, we sought to develop and validate a new improved method.
Computed tomography (CT) scans were taken from 27 patients who underwent DC (17 bifrontal patients and 10 unilateral patients). Pre-operative and post-operative images were processed and registered to determine the change in brain position associated with the operation. The maximum deformation in the herniated brain, the change in volume and estimates of the craniectomy area were determined from the images. Statistical comparison was made using the Pearson's correlation coefficient r and a Welch's two-tailed T-test, with statistical significance reported at the 5% level.
There was a reasonable correlation between the volume increase and the maximum brain displacement (r = 0.64), a low correlation between the volume increase and the craniectomy area (r = 0.30) and no correlation between the maximum displacement and the craniectomy area (r = -0.01). The maximum deformation was significantly lower (P = 0.023) in the bifrontal patients (mean = 22.5 mm) compared with the unilateral patients (mean = 29.8 mm). Herniation volume was significantly lower (P = 0.023) in bifrontal (mean = 50.0 ml) than unilateral patients (mean = 107.3 ml). Craniectomy area was not significantly different for the two craniectomy locations (P = 0.29).
A method has been developed to quantify changes in brain deformation due to decompressive craniectomy from CT images and allow comparison between different craniectomy locations. Measured displacement is a reasonable way to characterise volume changes. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Conceived and designed the experiments: TLF AGK PJH MPFS. Performed the experiments: TLF. Analyzed the data: TLF MPFS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: TLF. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: TLF AGK PJH MPFS. |
ISSN: | 1932-6203 1932-6203 |
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0110408 |