Resting-State Magnetoencephalography Source Imaging Pilot Study in Children with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
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Published on: September 20, 2024
Ming-Xiong Huang1,2, Ashley Robb Swan1,2, Annemarie Angeles Quinto1,2
1Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, California.
Insights
Resting-state MEG revealed brain hyperactivity and hypoactivity in children with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) six months post-injury. These findings suggest altered brain function contributes to persistent cognitive symptoms in pediatric mTBI patients.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pediatric Neurology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is common in children, with a subset experiencing persistent cognitive and emotional symptoms.
- The underlying mechanisms of chronic symptoms after pediatric mTBI remain unclear, partly due to limitations in conventional neuroimaging.
- Resting-state magnetoencephalography (rs-MEG) offers a sensitive method to investigate brain activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate brain activity differences in children with mTBI using rs-MEG.
- To identify potential neural correlates of enduring cognitive symptoms in pediatric mTBI.
Main Methods:
- The study compared rs-MEG source images in 12 children with mTBI and 12 age-matched controls.
- MEG data were analyzed in various frequency bands (low-frequency, alpha, beta, gamma) six months post-injury.
- Participants reported cognitive symptoms but few psychiatric or somatic complaints.
Main Results:
- Children with mTBI exhibited hyperactivity in the insular cortices, left amygdala, and left precuneus across different frequency bands.
- Hypoactivity was observed in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (dlPFC), ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and right precuneus.
- rs-MEG identified distinct patterns of altered brain activity in children with mTBI.
Conclusions:
- rs-MEG source imaging is sensitive to detecting functional brain abnormalities in children with mTBI.
- Altered brain activity in specific regions may underlie persistent cognitive deficits after pediatric mTBI.
- These findings highlight the potential of rs-MEG for understanding and diagnosing chronic symptoms in pediatric mTBI.
Abstract:
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) accounts for the vast majority of all pediatric TBI. An important minority of children who have suffered an mTBI have enduring cognitive and emotional symptoms. However, the mechanisms of chronic symptoms in children with pediatric mTBI are not fully understood. This is in part due to the limited sensitivity of conventional neuroimaging technologies. The present study examined resting-state magnetoencephalography (rs-MEG) source images in 12 children who had mTBI and 12 age-matched control children. The rs-MEG exams were performed in children with mTBI 6 months after injury when they reported no clinically significant post-injury psychiatric changes and few if any somatic sensorimotor symptoms but did report cognitive symptoms. MEG source magnitude images were obtained for different frequency bands in alpha (8-12 Hz), beta (15-30 Hz), gamma (30-90 Hz), and low-frequency (1-7 Hz) bands. In contrast to the control participants, rs-MEG source imaging in the children with mTBI showed: 1) hyperactivity from the bilateral insular cortices in alpha, beta, and low-frequency bands, from the left amygdala in alpha band, and from the left precuneus in beta band; 2) hypoactivity from the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (dlPFC) in alpha and beta bands, from the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in beta band, from the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) in gamma band, from the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in alpha band, and from the right precuneus in alpha band. The present study showed that MEG source imaging technique revealed abnormalities in the resting-state electromagnetic signals from the children with mTBI.
