| Because of the complexity of the brain and the way it | | | | series of slice images using tomography and |
| interacts with the rest of the body, a traumatic brain | | | | subsequently compile them into a more detailed, digital |
| injury can result in many different problems, disorders, | | | | reconstruction of the scanned tissue. |
| and/or complications. Diagnosing the extent of a | | | | CT scans have proven particularly useful in diagnosing |
| traumatic brain injury is no easy task. Modern | | | | brain injuries because they can detect the presence of |
| technology has provided doctors and scientists with | | | | many problems, ranging from bone fractures to internal |
| several effective imaging procedures which allow | | | | hemorrhaging to tumors. |
| them to study the effects of an injury on the brain and | | | | Magnetic Resonance Imaging |
| produce more accurate diagnoses of any problems. | | | | Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, was developed |
| Two of the most widely used techniques are | | | | using research conducted into the phenomenon of |
| computerized tomography (CT) scans and magnetic | | | | nuclear magnetic resonance. While the physics behind |
| resonance imaging (MRI). | | | | this imaging technique are fairly complicated, the basic |
| Computerized Tomography | | | | idea is something like this: |
| The term tomography comes from the Greek word | | | | An MRI scanner produces a strong magnetic field, |
| tomos, meaning "section." A tomograph, therefore, is a | | | | which causes the abundant hydrogen nuclei found in |
| sectional, two dimensional image produced by x-rays | | | | the body (usually as water) to line up in a certain way. |
| using a technique first proposed by the Italian radiologist | | | | Radio wave pulses are then used to "disturb" this |
| Alessandro Vallebona in the 1930s. By moving the | | | | alignment, producing rotating magnetic fields as the |
| x-ray source and the film in opposite directions at a | | | | hydrogen nuclei "reset" after each pulse. Because the |
| synchronized rate, an image is produced which is | | | | hydrogen nuclei in different types of body tissue reset |
| blurred at all levels except the focal plane. This allowed | | | | at differing rates, the scanner can use this information |
| scientists to sidestep the problem of superimposed | | | | to construct a highly detailed image of soft body tissue. |
| images often encountered in imaging technology. | | | | MRI scans are a very effective tool for diagnosing |
| Further advances in medical technology have changed | | | | neurological problems, particularly tumors and disorders |
| and improved the original tomograph. The advent of | | | | which arise in non-calcified body tissue. However, |
| more powerful computers resulted in the development | | | | compared to CT scans, MRIs usually take longer, are |
| of the first CT scanner, which was able to take a | | | | more expensive, and may be less easily available. |