Jie Wen1, Serguei V. Astafiev2, Kristina L. Zinn2, Anne H. Cross2, Dmitriy A. Yablonskiy1, and Maurizio Corbetta2
1Radiology, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, United States, 2Neurology, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, United States
In this study we used quantitative tissue specific R2* measurements to detect brain abnormalities in chronic subjects
with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). mTBI patients demonstrated decreased
R2* values in frontal pole and hippocampus. Reduced R2* values in the white
matter of the hippocampus were strongly related to the reported memory problems
typical for mTBI. Importantly, this R2* value reduction was not accompanied by
decreased volume of white matter and grey matter inside those regions, suggesting
that R2* values may detect mTBI related abnormalities before detectable
anatomical changes appear.
