Comparison between Transcranial Sonography and Computerized Tomography Scans to Assess the Midline Shift in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury

BACKGROUND: Midline shift (MLS) of the brain is an important clinical finding diagnosed on computed tomography (CT) imaging and transcranial sonography (TCS) can help diagnose MLS at the bedside and facilitate interventions to improve outcomes. The study aimed to find an association between TCS- and CT-based assessments of MLS in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We included all adult patients with moderate-to-severe TBI of either gender, aged between 18 and 65 years, undergoing intracranial surgery under general anesthesia over a period of 3 months. Consciousness was assessed with the help of the Glasgow coma scale (GCS) and Glasgow coma scale-pupillary (GCS-P) score. We calculated MLS using a CT scan and TCS. Bland Altman graph along with Pearson's and Spearman's coefficient tests was used. RESULTS: A total of 17 patients were analyzed in this study. The MLS was 0.52 ± 0.90 cm using TCS and 0.58 ± 0.39 cm using CT scan. The Pearson's correlation coefficient (r(2)) of the difference between MLS measured by TCS and CT imaging was 0.002 (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Transcranial sonography could detect MLS in patients with TBI, provided a minimum time window is used between MLS measurements by TCS and CT scan. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Kapoor I, Pandit S, Prabhakar H, Mahajan C. Comparison between Transcranial Sonography and Computerized Tomography Scans to Assess the Midline Shift in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury. Indian J Crit Care Med 2023;27(1):64–66.