White matter damage and cognitive impairment after traumatic brain injury.

ABSTRACT: White matter disruption is an important determinant of cognitive impairment after brain injury, but conventional neuroimaging underestimates its extent. In contrast, diffusion tensor imaging provides a validated and sensitive way of identifying the impact of axonal injury. The relationship between cognitive impairment after traumatic brain injury and white matter damage is likely to be complex. We applied a flexible technique-tract-based spatial statistics-to explore whether damage to specific white matter tracts is associated with particular patterns of cognitive impairment. The commonly affected domains of memory, executive function and information processing speed were investigated in 28 patients in the post-acute/chronic phase following traumatic brain injury and in 26 age-matched cont

SUBMITTER: Kinnunen KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3030764 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature