Gopal Varma1, Prakash Saha2, Matt
Waltham2, Stephen Keevil1,3, Alberto Smith2,
Tobias Schaeffter1
1Imaging Sciences, King's College
London, London, United Kingdom; 2Academic Department of Surgery,
King's College London, London, United Kingdom; 3Medical Physics,
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
Subdural
haematoma (SDH) is an emergency when acute, and management is often guided by
imaging. Distinguishing between the
different phases of SDH may be possible by the presence and position of
methaemoglobin. In this study, we create an in vitro system of SDH and
examine the relationship between intra- and extracellular methaemoglobin at
various concentrations, using R2, R2* and R2’ parameters. R2’ relaxation
rate appears to be the most sensitive marker of methaemoglobin concentration
and can readily differentiate between when it is intra- or extracellular.
This parameter could therefore be used to stage the phase of SDH.