Cerebral Fat Embolism with Multiple Rib and Thoracic Spinal Fractures

ABSTRACT

Cerebral fat embolism(CFE) is a rarely reported and usually underestimated disease entity. It is important to consider the possibility of CFE when intracranial lesions on brain magnetic resonance(MR) imaging without direct relation to the trauma are seen in patients with multiple bone fractures. The authors report a case of CFE caused by trauma with multiple enhancing lesions on the enhanced T1-weighted MR images and high signal intensity on T2-weighted images in a 24-year-old-man with multiple bone fractures.