ABSTRACT
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) causes brain damage generally invisible for conventional imaging methods. Its diagnosis mostly relies on the patient’s history, subjective complaints and neuropsychological status. Long-term complication development is just scarcely linked to these clinical factors. Imaging markers would contribute not only to the diagnosis and prognosis of mTBI, but to the understanding of its pathomechanisms as well. Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) methods offer new insights to the background of mTBI. The microscopic scale white matter disease following mTBI can be evaluated by Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and Susceptibility Weighted Imaging (SWI). It’s possible to detect subtle atrophy using advanced volumetric analyses of submillimeter resolution images, while biochemical aspects can be assessed by MR spectroscopy. Functional MRI (fMRI) provides information of altered and compensational brain activity due to injury. Further advanced MRI techniques and perspectives are discussed as well in the chapter.
