Citation

Tominaga I, Matsuo Y, Kato Y, Onaya M, Kasahara M, Yuzuriha T, Oda T, Kashima H, Wasada K. Rev. Neurol. (Masson) 1991; 147(10): 658-662.

Vernacular Title

Coma traumatique prolonge par lesions axonales diffuses.

Affiliation

Service de Neuropsychiatrie, Hôpital National de Chiba, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

1763255

Abstract

A 22-year old male patient was admitted for deep coma probably of traumatic origin. There was neither fracture of the skull nor expansive intracranial lesion. The patient survived for 6 years and 8 months without any change in consciousness. Post-mortem neuropathological examination showed lesions which predominated in the white matter and had features that were compatible with diffuse axonal injury. The mechanism responsible for these lesions seems to be stretching and shearing of axones at the moment of impact. The exceptionally long duration of survival probably accounts for the severity of the lesions observed.

Language: fr