Updates in the Evaluation of Vertebral and Carotid Injury

ABSTRACT

The detail and information obtained from neuroimaging have improved greatly over the last two decades with the advent of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and angiography (MRA). In the last decade, advances in computer technology and tomography have produced angiographic images from computed tomography (CTA). Despite these advances, the basic evaluation of traumatic vascular injury relies on catheter angiography. With advances in critical care and neuroimaging techniques, it has become feasible to have critically ill patients undergo MR and CT imaging. MRA and CTA provide the ability to diagnose rapidly and noninvasively vascular injuries that may predispose to stroke. The purpose of this article is to review briefly these advances and their relevance to traumatic brain injury for the neurosurgical practitioner.

KEYWORDS

Angiography - computed tomography - magnetic resonance - traumatic brain injury

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