Trauma

Accidents often cause characteristic lesions in the brain. These include direct impact damage to the pallium on the inner side of the skull (contusion foci) as well as micro haemorrhages within the brain that are often caused by shearing forces between various inactive parts of the brain. Particularly sensitive MRI sequences such as T2* or the so-called susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) are used to identify micro haemorrhages. In addition to bleeding in the brain, bleeding often arises in the cerebrospinal fluid space around the brain (sub-arachnoid haemorrhage) or in the area of the meninges (epidural and subdural hematoma).

In addition to magnetic resonance imaging, computerised tomography is also used to diagnose and monitor the progress of this bleeding. Computerised tomography is more suitable for diagnosing bone injuries (fractures).