Functional MRI of working memory in paediatric head injury

A case study examining the recovery of a 9 year old boy who sustained a severe head injury is reported. The subject sustained damage to the left parietal-occipital and right frontal-parietal regions. Structural and functional imaging and cognitive data were collected at the time of injury and 1 year post-injury. Cognitive assessment revealed improvement over time. Functional imaging at the time of injury revealed minimal activation in the right posterior temporal region. Imaging 1 year post-injury revealed increased activation in the right pre-frontal cortex, bilateral pre-motor cortex and bilateral posterior parietal cortex. This activation pattern is consistent with the performance of unaffected individuals on working memory tasks. These findings differ from those in the adult literature and suggest an alternative pattern of recovery of function in children.