Using magnetic resonance imaging to predict new learning outcome at 5 years after childhood traumatic brain injury

Memory and learning entail the recruitment of a number of neural areas, including the medial temporal lobes, temporal association areas, and prefrontal cortices. This study examined the effects of injury severity on long-term memory function in 55 children who sustained traumatic brain injury 5 years earlier and compared this with 17 healthy controls. It also investigated cortical damage and diffuse axonal injury and their association to memory and learning outcomes 5 years after traumatic brain injury. Children were administered memory tests of increasing complexity. Results indicated that injury severity affected aspects of complex memory, with no significant influence on working memory; that focal cortical damage was not predictive of working or complex memory, whereas diffuse axonal injury predicted outcome on complex memory tasks. Findings suggest that the implementation of diffuse axonal injury as an index of injury may assist in predicting memory outcome after childhood traumatic brain injury.