Magnetic resonance imaging of traumatic brain injury: a pictorial review.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant source of major morbidity and mortality in blunt trauma patients. Computed tomography (CT) is the primary imaging modality of choice for patients with potential brain injury in the acute setting, with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) playing a role in evaluating equivocal CT findings and may help with determining long-term prognosis and recovery. MRI is being utilized more commonly in the acute and subacute setting of TBI; therefore, radiologists should be familiar with the MRI appearance of the various manifestations of TBI. Here, we review the imaging of common intracranial injuries with illustrative cases comparing CT and MRI.