But in spite of the lack of advanced testing, such as an MRI, attorney George Felos has claimed that Terri’s cerebral cortex has “liquefied,” and doctors for Michael Schiavo have claimed, on the basis of the CT scans, that parts of Terri’s cerebral cortex “have been replaced by fluid.” The problem with such contentions is that the available evidence can’t support them. Dr. Zabiega explained that “a CT scan can’t resolve the kind of detail needed” to make such a pronouncement: “A CT scan is like a blurry photograph.” Dr. William Bell, a professor of neurology at Wake Forest University Medical School, agrees: “A CT scan doesn’t give much detail. In order to see it on a CT, you have to have massive damage.” Is it possible that Terri has that sort of “massive” brain damage? According to Dr. Bell, that isn’t likely. Sometimes, he said, even patients who are PVS have a “normal or near normal” MRI.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/johansen200503160848.asp
Has Zabiega seen the CT of Terri? Perhaps he would change his mind on the need for an MRI or PET.
If not, I'd like him to show CT scans of other patients similar to the one of Terri's you posted, with comparison MRIs and PETs, and accompanying descriptions of the patients and their progress in therapy.
BTW, do you have a source/link for the photo?
Link to CT scan: http://www.miami.edu/ethics2/schiavo/Schiavo_links.htm
Decent load of links to both sides of the Schiavo case, court documents, Florida law, and information about things like living wills.
Zabiega probably didn't see this CT scan (I don't know how long it's been in the public domain). I'm ignorant on matters of the human brain, but my girlfriend was a neurobio major at a prestigious university, so I've been running questions by her. She thinks that an MRI is more sensitive to detecting brain damage than a CT scan, so in a normal case of light damage a doctor might not see something on a CT, but the MRI later reveals problems.
Like the NRO article states, it usually takes massive damage to show up on a CT, but my girlfriend's of the opinion that the damage shown in Terri's CT meets that requirement, and is obvious and extensive. The ventricles have swelled to the point where they're taking up a big chunk of what used to be the cortex. I've been following things more from the legal side, and the level of damage wasn't being questioned by the Schindlers as much as the potential to repair or reverse that damage with experimental treatments.
An MRI would reveal more information about the state of the brain, but it's not necessary to answer the basic question of whether or not a large chunk of her brain has been replaced by cerebro-spinal fluid.
- Still hoping that whatever happens either way, it's what Terri would have chosen.