Alteration in Functional Brain Systems after Electrical Injury

Abstract

Neuropsychological studies in electrical injury patients have reported deficits in attention, learning, and working memory, but the neural substrates of these deficits remain poorly characterized. In this study we sought to examine whether electrical injury subjects demonstrate abnormal patterns of brain activation during working memory and procedural learning tasks. Fourteen electrical injury subjects and fifteen demographically matched healthy control subjects performed a spatial working memory paradigm and a procedural learning paradigm during functional MRI studies. For the spatial working memory task, electrical injury patients exhibited significantly greater activation in the middle frontal gyrus and motor and posterior cingulate cortices. Increased activation in EI subjects also was observed on a visually-guided saccade task in several sensorimotor regions, including the frontal and parietal eye fields and striatum. On the procedural learning task, electrical injury patients exhibited significantly less activation in the middle frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, and frontal eye fields than controls. This is the first study to document task-dependent, system-level cortical and subcortical dysfunction in individuals who had experienced an electrical shock trauma.

Frontal lobe hemodynamics detected by functional near-infrared spectroscopy during head-up tilt table tests in patients with electrical burns

“…One of the immediate effects is autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction and delayed effects can lead to myelopathy (Farrell and Starr, 1968 ; Ko et al, 2004 ; Nam et al, 2007 ). However, few studies have examined the functional changes in the brain, especially the ANS function, due to electrical injury (Brandon et al, 2009 ; Ramati et al, 2009 ). Burns are commonly known to have profound effects on an individual's psychological and emotional well-being (Bhatti et al, 2020 ).…”

Diagnosis of Long-Term Sequelae After Low-Voltage Electrical Injury

“…The inference of negative consultation often implies a purely psychological component. 10 Unfortunately, these authors did not indicate the voltages and the cause of the EI, and any possible effect of EI on neuropsychological symptoms may be true but could be unrelated. We are the only specialty EI clinic in the country that has seen a significant number of cases (128 patients in the last 7 years) with enough expertise and clinical research, 1,5,6 where we have struggled with the treatment of these difficult cases, and the rates of negative specialty consultations and diagnosing testing would suggest that early referral in this regard might be of benefit to minimize the costs of time and dollars spent ordering tests without having clinical experience in the area.…”

When Lightning Strikes: Sports and Recreational Activities Safety

“…Keraunoparalysis also may be seen and is a temporary paralysis characterized by extremities (lower more common than upper) that are blue, mottled, cold, and pulseless. While many victims spontaneously recover within a few hours, the initial injury also may result in peripheral nervous system injuries, including paresthesias and pain, which may not become apparent for weeks to months afterward (13)(14)(15)(16).…”