Preliminary findings from the group at Montefiore Medical Center show that DTI results could guide patient management and add information to treatment trials.
In the study, led by Dr. Sara Rosenbaum, DTI-MRI was performed on more than two dozen patients within two weeks of mild traumatic brain injury. The subjects' cognitive skills also were tested one year later.
The researchers found that individuals with abnormally high radial diffusivity in the left temporal and right temporal lobes of the brain exhibited worse executive function skills one year later. There were no significant differences in cognitive function between subjects with and without abnormally high radial diffusivity in the frontal lobes or corpus callosum, the group noted.
Thus, radial diffusivity could be an early imaging biomarker for worse long-term outcomes in mild traumatic brain injury, Rosenbaum and colleagues concluded.
Check out this Monday morning session to get all the details.
