My MRI or CT Scan Was Negative. Does This Mean I Don’t Have A Brain Injury?

This is another question I’ve recently received from potential clients.  They were involved in an incident — a car wreck, a slip and fall, or something similar.  They went to the ER, and the ER performed an MRI or a CT san looking for problems, but scan came back negative.  Does this mean that the was no brain injury?

Absolutely not.

While an MRI or a CT scan can find some brain bleeds or some damage, they don’t find most problems.  As a result, the vast majority of people who have brain injuries have a normal (what we call negative) MRI or CT scan.

Indeed, while insurance companies sometimes try to argue about claims when you have a normal MRI or CT scan, virtually all scientific literature and all neurologists agree that you can still have a normal scan.  Not only that, virtually all neurologists will agree that most of the patients they see for brain injuries have normal scans.

So if you feel like you’re off or your family members are telling you that you’re different after a car wreck, a fall, or another event, don’t rule out a possible brain injury just because you had a normal CT scan or MRI.  You may very well still have a mild traumatic brain injury that needs to be treated