Global White Matter Damage in Focal Brainstem Injury Patients With Disorders of Consciousness: A Diffusion Tensor Tractography Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Disorders of consciousness (DoC) pose significant challenges in clinical diagnosis and treatment. This study aims to investigate the relationship between consciousness levels and the brainstem-cortical white matter tracts in DoC patients resulting from focal brainstem injury using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

Methods

DTI data of DoC patients with focal brainstem injury and healthy volunteers were retrospectively collected. White matter tractography was performed to reconstruct brainstem-cortical projections. The number of streamlines, total volume, and fractional anisotropy (FA) were analyzed from the perspective of global brain, physiological pathways, and functional networks. The relationship between these measurements and consciousness levels was investigate

SUBMITTER: Wang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12750513 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature