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Spatiotemporal profile of atrophy in the first year following moderate-severe traumatic brain injury.

Authors :
Brennan DJ
Duda J
Ware JB
Whyte J
Choi JY
Gugger J
Focht K
Walter AE
Bushnik T
Gee JC
Diaz-Arrastia R
Kim JJ
Source :
Human brain mapping [Hum Brain Mapp] 2023 Sep; Vol. 44 (13), pp. 4692-4709. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jul 03.
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) triggers progressive neurodegeneration resulting in brain atrophy that continues months-to-years following injury. However, a comprehensive characterization of the spatial and temporal evolution of TBI-related brain atrophy remains incomplete. Utilizing a sensitive and unbiased morphometry analysis pipeline optimized for detecting longitudinal changes, we analyzed a sample consisting of 37 individuals with moderate-severe TBI who had primarily high-velocity and high-impact injury mechanisms. They were scanned up to three times during the first year after injury (3 months, 6 months, and 12 months post-injury) and compared with 33 demographically matched controls who were scanned once. Individuals with TBI already showed cortical thinning in frontal and temporal regions and reduced volume in the bilateral thalami at 3 months post-injury. Longitudinally, only a subset of cortical regions in the parietal and occipital lobes showed continued atrophy from 3 to 12 months post-injury. Additionally, cortical white matter volume and nearly all deep gray matter structures exhibited progressive atrophy over this period. Finally, we found that disproportionate atrophy of cortex along sulci relative to gyri, an emerging morphometric marker of chronic TBI, was present as early as 3 month post-injury. In parallel, neurocognitive functioning largely recovered during this period despite this pervasive atrophy. Our findings demonstrate msTBI results in characteristic progressive neurodegeneration patterns that are divergent across regions and scale with the severity of injury. Future clinical research using atrophy during the first year of TBI as a biomarker of neurodegeneration should consider the spatiotemporal profile of atrophy described in this study.<br /> (© 2023 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1097-0193
Volume :
44
Issue :
13
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Human brain mapping
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
37399336
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26410