The time course of vasogenic oedema after focal human head injury--evidence from SPECT mapping of blood brain barrier defects.

We have tomographically mapped changes in the blood brain barrier (BBB) (99 mTc Pertechnetate) in 20 patients with acute contusions, and four with acute subdural haematomas in situ. The changes were related to regional CBF, (99 mTc HMPAO SPECT) T2 weighted MRI scans, CT abnormalities and the clinical features. Seventy-five percent of contusions were accompanied by a BBB abnormality, usually a "halo" around the lesion, which was more common in scans made after the second day. All contusions demonstrated "oedema" as a zone of "T2" signal on MRI or a zone of lucency on CT, and all were accompanied by a focal zone of low CBF on SPECT. Early contusional oedema appears to be cytotoxic but in certain cases, delayed blood brain barrier lesions develop, suggesting a vasogenic component.