Brain Swelling and Loss of Gray and White Matter Differentiation in Human Postmortem Cases by Computed Tomography

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the brain by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) versus antemortem computed tomography (AMCT) using brains from the same patients. We studied 36 nontraumatic subjects who underwent AMCT, PMCT, and pathological autopsy in our hospital between April 2009 and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2015-11, Vol.10 (11), p.e0143848-e0143848
Main Authors: Shirota, Go, Gonoi, Wataru, Ishida, Masanori, Okuma, Hidemi, Shintani, Yukako, Abe, Hiroyuki, Takazawa, Yutaka, Ikemura, Masako, Fukayama, Masashi, Ohtomo, Kuni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Attenuation
Autopsies
Autopsy
Basal ganglia
Brain
Brain Edema - diagnostic imaging
Brain Edema - pathology
Cardiac arrest
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
CAT scans
Computation
Computed tomography
Convexity
Death
Differentiation
Female
Forensic medicine
Ganglia
Health aspects
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Mortality
Phantoms, Imaging
Postmortem Changes
Scanners
Statistical analysis
Substantia alba
Substantia grisea
Swelling
Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed - utilization
Tomography, X-Ray Computed - instrumentation
Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods
Ventricle
Ventricles (cerebral)
White Matter - diagnostic imaging
White Matter - pathology
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Summary:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the brain by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) versus antemortem computed tomography (AMCT) using brains from the same patients. We studied 36 nontraumatic subjects who underwent AMCT, PMCT, and pathological autopsy in our hospital between April 2009 and December 2013. PMCT was performed within 20 h after death, followed by pathological autopsy including the brain. Autopsy confirmed the absence of intracranial disorders that might be related to the cause of death or might affect measurements in our study. Width of the third ventricle, width of the central sulcus, and attenuation in gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) from the same area of the basal ganglia, centrum semiovale, and high convexity were statistically compared between AMCT and PMCT. Both the width of the third ventricle and the central sulcus were significantly shorter in PMCT than in AMCT (P < 0.0001). GM attenuation increased after death at the level of the centrum semiovale and high convexity, but the differences were not statistically significant considering the differences in attenuation among the different computed tomography scanners. WM attenuation significantly increased after death at all levels (P
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0143848