Evaluation of Anatomical and Functional Connections Following Traumatic Brain Injury in Humans by Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Resting-State Functional Connectivity

Christine L. MacDonald¹, Nicholas Hubbard¹, Sanjeev Vaishnavi¹, Adrian Epstein¹, Abraham Snyder¹, Stephanie Chleboun², Joshua Shimony¹, Marcus Raichle¹, David Brody¹

Diffuse axonal injury is hypothesized to be the primary cause of cognitive deficits following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Currently clinical imaging modalities are not optimized to assess this pathology. 20 chronic TBI patients and 12 controls were scanned with diffusion tensor imaging and resting-state fMRI at 3T. Detailed neuropsychological assessments were performed the same day. Highly significant correlations were found between several aspects of cognitive performance and imaging abnormalities detected on DTI or resting-state fMRI analysis of functional connectivity. Conventional anatomical sequences did not reveal these pathologies. Thus, these advanced MRI techniques could be synergistically used to better assess TBI.