White Matter Degradation in Fornix After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal MRI Investigations

Wang Zhan¹, Grant Gauger², Lauren Boreta¹, Gary Abrams², Karl Young¹, Yu Zhang¹, Marzieh Nezamzadeh¹, Norbert Schuff¹, Michael W. Weiner¹

Fornix is one of the primary white matter structures of the limbic system, and its damage in mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) may explain the memory and learning dysfunctions in the post-concussion syndrome. N=24 TBI patients were longitudinally studied in two time points using T1 anatomical imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to measure the fornix-to-brain ratio (FBR) and WM integrity of fornix, and compared with matched healthy controls. Our data show that the WM degradation in fornix onset in the acute stage after mild TBI, and that this degradation continued during the following 6-month period of recovery.