Multi-modal proton and sodium MRI for outcome prediction in mild traumatic brain injury

In mild traumatic brain injury, imaging biomarkers are needed to support clinical management. In four antecedent publications, we used two new (sodium and fingerprinting) and two established (spectroscopy and diffusion) MR techniques in a longitudinally followed patient cohort. Here we report final results and combine all data to determine which marker(s) from the four modalities offer the greatest utility for detecting injury and predicting outcomes. We also leverage the independent specificities offered by each modality to explore injury mechanisms.

The longitudinal spectroscopy data were analysed to complete a full data set of proton (spectroscopy, fingerprinting, diffusion) and sodium MRI, acquired alongside symptomatic, cognitive, and functional assessments in 27 patients at 1, 3, and 12 months following injury. Twenty-three matched controls were scanned once. Testing for associations between nine MR markers and three outcome measures was standardized across the entire data set, and performed using Spearman correlations and logistic regression.

Previously elevated white matter choline and creatine from spectroscopy (markers of membrane turnover and cellular energetics, respectively) normalized to control levels by 3 months, at rates which correlated with the rate of symptom recovery. Sodium and spectroscopy showed findings coinciding in pattern and timepoint, but there were no associations between them, suggesting independent origin. Choline and creatine met the greatest number of biomarker properties, followed by water T₁ from fingerprinting (marker of the cellular microenvironment).

We identified independent, dynamic, metabolic and ionic changes, with choline and creatine from spectroscopy fulfilling the most criteria for a clinical biomarker.