cerebromalacia

  I have a friend that had a head injury from a ATV accident a year ago. She lost her vision since and now upon her last visit to the doctor she was told that she has some cerebromalacia. I know that this mean softening of the brain tissue, but what exactly does that mean for her?? I have searched everywhere I can think of and cannot find any information on this. What can I expect from this as a friend in observing her?? Will her behavior, speech or movement abilities change? Is this something that can be fatal or debilitating for her?
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Cerebromalacia (I often use the term encephalomalacia) refers to loss of brain tissue. It is most commonly seen as a long-term result of stroke or trauma (clearly trauma in your friend's case).
Basically, the injured brain tissue was reabsorbed and the resulting MRI or CT scan has a particular appearance identified as encephalomalacia. It is a descriptive term rather than the name of a disease per se.
One would expect that the initial trauma produced what damage it would, and after a period of possible partial recovery, the recovery would reach a plateau. The encephalomalacia appears late, but the damage was already done and this just reflects a change of appearance of dead brain tissue rather than any new pathologic process. I suppose if you did enough scans in sequence over some period of time you might be able to watch the evolution of the encephalomalacic appearance, but it eventually reaches a point where it looks the same for the long term.
From your description, I expect the encephalomalacia to appear in the occipital lobes (visual cerebral cortex processing area). This does not necessarily overlap the regions for motor control or behavior, though that is a bit simplistic. If your friend didn't have speech, motor, or behavior problems as a result of the trauma, she is unlikely to develop anything new. If she does, she warrants re-examination.
I hope this helps. CCF MD mdf.