Mild traumatic brain injury: longitudinal regional brain volume changes

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Radiology
• Neurology

Background:

• Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) can lead to persistent postconcussive symptoms.
• Longitudinal structural brain changes after MTBI are not well understood.
• Assessing brain volume changes may provide objective markers for MTBI recovery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To track global and regional brain volume changes one year after MTBI.
• To correlate these structural changes with clinical and neurocognitive outcomes.
• To determine if mild TBIs cause brain atrophy similar to severe injuries.

Main Methods:

• Utilized 3D T1-weighted MRI scans for automated segmentation of gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes.
• Enrolled 28 MTBI patients and 22 matched controls, with follow-up at one year.
• Employed correlation analyses (Pearson, Spearman) to link brain volumes with clinical and neurocognitive data.

Main Results:

• One year post-MTBI, patients exhibited significant global brain atrophy compared to controls.
• Reduced WM volume in the anterior cingulate and cingulate gyrus isthmus, and GM volume in the precuneus were observed.
• WM volume loss correlated with deficits in memory, attention, anxiety, and postconcussive symptoms.

Conclusions:

• Structural brain changes, including atrophy, occur one year after a single MTBI event.
• Regional brain atrophy is not limited to severe TBIs and can manifest after mild injuries.
• The anterior cingulate, cingulate gyrus isthmus, and precuneus appear particularly vulnerable to structural changes post-MTBI.