To reveal how traumatic events affect the integrity of brain microstructure in trauma-exposed non-PTSD people, we performed a longitudinal tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analysis in earthquake survivors using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data collected 25 days (TimePoint 1) and 2 years (TimePoint 2) after the Wenchuan earthquake. Our results showed that fractional anisotropy (FA) in several brain regions at TimePoint 2 were significantly increased compared with those at TimePoint 1. The increased FA in these regions may serve as the underlying neural substrates as brain recovered from the trauma.
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