EEG Neurofeedback therapy: Can it attenuate brain changes in TBI?

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neurorehabilitation
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Electroencephalogram Neurofeedback therapy (EEG-NFT) shows promise for cognitive and electrophysiological improvements in brain injury patients.
• In vivo structural and functional changes following EEG-NFT in brain injury remain under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate EEG-NFT-induced in vivo changes in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Main Methods:

• Two adolescents (mean age 15) with moderate TBI and post-concussion symptoms underwent 20 EEG-NFT sessions.
• Neuropsychological tests, symptom assessments, and MRI scans were conducted pre- and post-intervention.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements in cognitive scores and reduction in concussion symptoms (p < 0.05).
• EEG-NFT led to increased cortical grey matter volume and white matter fractional anisotropy (p < 0.0001).
• Functional connectivity showed decreased global/local efficiency, cost, and clustering coefficient (p < 0.05), with increased thalamo-cortical connection FA.

Conclusions:

• EEG-NFT therapy induces significant structural and functional connectivity changes in young, moderately injured TBI patients.