Personal Injury Law

Diffusion Tenser Imaging Identifies Abnormalities in Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

By Bruce Stern

A new study published in the Journal of NeuroTrauma (November 2008) supports the use of Diffusion Tenser Imaging (DTI) in mild traumatic brain injury patients to assist in diagnosing this injury.  Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center conducted the current study, the purpose of which was to identify otherwise occult white matter abnormalities in patients suffering persistent cognitive impairment due to mild traumatic brain injury. 

The researchers retrospectively analyzed DTI MRIs of seventeen patients who had cognitive impairments due to mild TBI that had occurred eight months to three years prior to imaging.  These studies were then compared to ten healthy controls.

This study is important not only because it supports the use of DTI with mild traumatic brain injury patients, but also is one of the first of its kind to demonstrate abnormalities in MTBI patients during the chronic phase of this disorder. 

Also of interest was the distribution of abnormalities found in the subject group which was concordant with pathological and imaging studies of diffuse axonal injury which typically follows severe trauma with impairment at the time of injury and poor prognosis.

The authors conclude:

We have shown that DTI can identify abnormalities in patients cognitively impaired following MTBI.  While the findings hold promise for identifying MTBI patients who have cognitive impairment, they do not necessarily imply that DTI can be used to identify such patients before the onset of neurobehavioral symptoms.  That question is most important as its answer could facilitate early identification of the fifteen percent or more of patients who are at risk for cognitive decline following MTBI.  Such early identification could certainly be used to define prognoses, but more importantly might serve as a proxy endpoint in the study of novel treatments with potential for preempting light cognitive disability altogether.

Full post as published by Traumatic Brain Injury Law Blog on December 08, 2008 (boomark / email).