Correlation of Whole Brain Apparent Diffusion Coefficient with Glasgow Coma Score among Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

Quantitative whole-brain MR diffusion histograms in patients admitted with traumatic brain injury were evaluated and compared to those obtained from normal control subjects. Patients with normal MR imaging findings but low Glasgow coma score (GCS) showed an increased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). In addition, patients with lesions confined to the cortex that had minimal abnormal MR imaging findings but low GCS score showed significantly increased whole brain ADC's compared to similar group of patients with normal GCS score. A strong correlation between the ADC values and the GCS scores of the different groups was found.