Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Dec 2017
Review Meta AnalysisThe Prognostic Value of MRI in Moderate and Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Traumatic brain injury is a major cause of death and disability, yet many predictors of outcome are not precise enough to guide initial clinical decision-making. Although increasingly used in the early phase following traumatic brain injury, the prognostic utility of MRI remains uncertain. We thus undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies evaluating the predictive value of acute MRI lesion patterns for discriminating clinical outcome in traumatic brain injury. ⋯ MRI following traumatic brain injury yields important prognostic information, with several lesion patterns significantly associated with long-term survival and neurologic outcome. Given the high risk of bias in the current body of literature, large well-controlled studies are necessary to better quantify the prognostic role of early MRI in moderate and severe traumatic brain injury.