Citation

Jang SH, Kim OL, Kim SH, Kim JB. Am. J. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/PHM.0000000000001243

PMID

31206359

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Loss of consciousness(LOC) is an indicator of the severity of traumatic brain injury(TBI) and the ascending reticular activating system(ARAS) has been considered as a main structure for consciousness. However, no study on the relation between LOC and ARAS injury in TBI has been reported. We investigated the relation between LOC, severity of TBI, and ARAS injury using diffusion tensor tractography(DTT).

DESIGN: 120 patients were recruited. Three components of ARAS, fractional anisotropy(FA) and tract volume(TV) were measured.

RESULTS: In lower dorsal and ventral ARAS, FA and TV value in mild group were higher than those of moderate and severe groups, and there was no difference between moderate and severe groups. In upper ARAS, FA value in mild group was higher than in moderate group, and in moderate group was higher than in severe group. TV value in mild group was higher than that of severe group. LOC showed moderate negative correlations with TV value of lower dorsal ARAS(r=-0.348), FA value of lower ventral ARAS(r=-0.343), and FA value of upper ARAS(r=-0.416).

CONCLUSION: Injury severity was different among three TBI groups in upper ARAS but did not differ between moderate and severe groups in lower dorsal and ventral ARAS.

Language: en