Citation

van der Horn HJ, Kok JG, de Koning ME, Scheenen ME, Leemans A, Spikman JM, van der Naalt J. J. Neurotrauma 2016; 34(5): 1035-1044.

Affiliation

Netherlands ; j.van.der.naalt@umcg.nl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2016.4659

PMID

27627836

Abstract

In this study, structural connectivity after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) was examined from a network perspective, with a particular focus on post-traumatic complaints. Fifty-three patients with and without self-reported complaints at two weeks after uncomplicated mTBI were included in addition to 20 matched healthy controls. Diffusion weighted imaging was performed at four weeks post-injury, and neuropsychological tests measuring processing speed and verbal memory were administered at three months post-injury to determine cognitive outcome. Structural connectivity was investigated using whole brain tractography and subsequent graph theory analysis. In patients with mTBI, eigenvector centrality within the left temporal pole was lower compared to healthy controls. In patients without complaints, global and mean local efficiency were lower compared to patients with complaints, although no differences were found between either subgroup and the group of healthy controls. Neuropsychological test scores were similar for patients with mTBI and healthy controls. However, patients with complaints showed higher processing speed compared to patients without complaints. Within the total mTBI group, a trend was found toward a correlation between lower network clustering and higher processing speed. Additionally, significant correlations were found between higher betweenness centrality values of language areas and lower verbal memory scores in patients with mTBI. In conclusion, our findings may indicate that global graph measures of the structural connectome are associated with pre- and/or non-injury related factors that determine the susceptibility to develop (persistent) complaints after mTBI. Furthermore, correlations between graph measures and neuropsychological test scores could suggest early compensatory mechanisms to maintain adequate cognitive performance.

Language: en