Functional Connectivity Changes in Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review and Coordinate-Based Meta-Analysis of...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Radiology
• Neurology

Background:

• Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes widespread functional connectivity (FC) disruptions.
• Current classification systems inadequately address network-level dysfunction post-TBI.
• Understanding severity-dependent FC changes is crucial for prognosis and rehabilitation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically evaluate functional connectivity (FC) alterations after mild, moderate-severe, and severe TBI.
• To map FC changes using coordinate-based meta-analysis and network analysis.
• To investigate how FC alterations vary by TBI severity.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search of fMRI studies on TBI functional connectivity.
• Stratification of studies by TBI severity and time since injury.
• Coordinate-based meta-analysis using Seed-based d Mapping with Permutation of Subject Images (SDM-PSI) and network atlas mapping.

Main Results:

• Seventy-six studies with 5,064 participants were included.
• Mild TBI (mTBI) showed alterations in default mode, ventral attention, and somatomotor networks.
• Moderate-severe/severe TBI implicated frontoparietal, ventral attention, and dorsal attention networks.
• No corrected statistical significance was achieved, despite consistent patterns.

Conclusions:

• Functional connectivity (FC) changes in TBI involve large-scale networks, varying by severity and time post-injury.
• Meta-analysis identified potential network patterns but lacked corrected statistical significance.
• Future research requires larger, harmonized datasets and standardized analysis for robust findings.