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Updated: Nov 25, 2025
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Published on: August 14, 2019
Injury of the optic radiation in patients with mild TBI: A DTT study
Sung Ho Jang1, Seong Ho Kim2, You Sung Seo1
1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, 317-1, Daemyungdong, Namku, Taegu, 705-717, Republic of Korea.
Objectives:
We investigated injuries of the optic radiations (ORs) in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) by using diffusion tensor tractography (DTT).
Methods:
Fifty-two consecutive patients who complained of visual problems showed abnormal visual evoked potential (VEP) latency but no abnormality on conventional brain MRI after mild TBI, and fifty normal control subjects were recruited for this study. Subjects' ORs were reconstructed using DTT, and three DTT parameters (fractional anisotropy [FA], apparent diffusion coefficient [ADC], and tract volume) were measured for each OR.
Results:
Mean FA value and tract volume of the OR were significantly lower in the patient group than in the control group (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the ADC values of the OR between the patient and control groups (p > 0.05). A weak negative correlation was detected between VEP latency and OR fiber number (r = 0.204, p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
DTT revealed that OR injuries were not detected on the conventional brain MRI scans of patients who complained of visual problems and had abnormal VEP latency after mild TBI. Our results suggest that DTT would be a useful technique for detecting OR injury in patients with mild TBI.
