Decreased Fractional Anisotropy Evaluated Using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics and Correlated with Cognitive Dysfunction in Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the Chronic Stage

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:The relationship between white matter disruption and cognitive dysfunction of patients with mTBI in the chronic stage remains unclear. The aim of this study was to identify white matter integrity by using DTI in patients with mTBI without morphologic traumatic abnormalities seen with conventional imaging and to evaluate the association of such regions with cognitive function.

Principal Component Analysis of Diffusion Tensor Images to Determine White Matter Injury Patterns Underlying Postconcussive Headache

“…20 Similarly, attempts to correlate structural injuries with postconcussive cognitive perfor- mance have shown mixed results without a strong anatomic/ pathologic correlation, with deficits detected in regions as diverse as the occipital cortex and corticospinal tracts. [21][22][23][24][25] This finding suggests that not all regions with differences in FA between patients and controls are necessarily symptomatic. 1 Reduced FA in 1 region alone may not, in and of itself, be clinically relevant.…”

Diffusion MRI abnormalities in adolescent rats given repeated mild traumatic brain injury

“…Decreased FA values have been reported acutely,35 as well as chronically47, in the corpus callosum of patients with mTBI. In some cases, these white matter FA values were predictive of impaired executive functioning48 and were correlated with decreased behavioral outcomes 44, 49. The corpus callosum is among the most common locations of abnormal FA50, 51 and is thought to be particularly vulnerable to axonal injury resulting from TBI 52.…”

Long-Term White Matter Changes after Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A 5-Year Prospective Cohort

“…DTI is an MR imaging technique that measures the properties of water diffusion. 4,5 The degree of diffusion is characterized by 3 eigenvectors representing the diffusion in each orthogonal direction. Diffusion in white matter is particularly limited and anisotropic because of physical obstacles to water diffusion imposed by the myelin and axon membranes.…”