Summary
The present study demonstrates that computerized tomography (CT) is the first method available to directly diagnose brain edema in man. Brain edema appears in the CT as an area of low density due to an increase of tissue water content. A comparison of printout numbers representing tissue density in an edematous area with direct measurements of the tissue water content demonstrated that in the edematous white matter a high water content corresponds to low tissue density. In these studies the minimum amount of brain edema was defined which is necessary to change the printout numbers by a single unit.
A concurrent decrease in tissue lipids when present in association with edema limits the sensitivity of the CT in brain edema diagnosis.
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References
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Lanksch, W., Oettinger, W., Baethmann, A., Kazner, E. (1976). CT Findings in Brain Edema Compared with Direct Chemical Analysis of Tissue Samples. In: Pappius, H.M., Feindel, W. (eds) Dynamics of Brain Edema. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-66524-0_43
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-66524-0_43
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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