Journal Article

History of traumatic brain injury is associated with increased grey-matter loss in patients with mild cognitive impairment

Pasternak, Stephen H., Rajji, Tarek K., Schweizer, Tom A., Graham, Simon J., Kumar, Sanjeev, Symons, Sean, Tartaglia, Maria C., Frank, Andrew, Troyer, Angela K., Fischer, Corinne E., Roberts, Angela, Ramirez, Joel, Khoury, Marc A., Borrie, Michael, Tan, Brian, Peltsch, Alicia, Orange, Joseph B., Arnott, Stephen R., Pollock, Bruce, Haddad, Seyyed Mohammad Hassan, Scott, Christopher J. M., Di Battista, Alex, Munoz, David G., Churchill, Nathan W., Nanayakkara, Nuwan, Tang-Wai, David F.

2024

Overview

Objectives To investigate whether a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with greater long-term grey-matter loss in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods 85 patients with MCI were identified, including 26 with a previous history of traumatic brain injury (MCI[TBI-]) and 59 without (MCI[TBI+]). Cortical thickness was evaluated by segmenting T1-weighted MRI scans acquired longitudinally over a 2-year period. Bayesian multilevel modelling was used to evaluate group differences in baseline cortical thickness and longitudinal change, as well as group differences in neuropsychological measures of executive function. Results At baseline, the MCI[TBI+] group had less grey matter within right entorhinal, left medial orbitofrontal and inferior temporal cortex areas bilaterally. Longitudinally, the MCI[TBI+] group also exhibited greater longitudinal declines in left rostral middle frontal, the left caudal middle frontal and left lateral orbitofrontal areas sover the span of 2 years (median = 1–2%, 90%HDI [−0.01%: −0.001%], probability of direction (PD) = 90–99%). The MCI[TBI+] group also displayed greater longitudinal declines in Trail-Making-Test (TMT)-derived ratio (median: 0.737%, 90%HDI: [0.229%: 1.31%], PD = 98.8%) and differences scores (median: 20.6%, 90%HDI: [−5.17%: 43.2%], PD = 91.7%). Conclusions Our findings support the notion that patients with MCI and a history of TBI are at risk of accelerated neurodegeneration, displaying greatest evidence for cortical atrophy within the left middle frontal and lateral orbitofrontal frontal cortex. Importantly, these results suggest that long-term TBI-mediated atrophy is more pronounced in areas vulnerable to TBI-related mechanical injury, highlighting their potential relevance for diagnostic forms of intervention in TBI.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Atrophy / Bayesian analysis / Cognitive ability / Cortex (entorhinal) / Cortex (frontal) / Executive function / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mild cognitive impairment / Neurodegeneration / Neurology / Neuroradiology / Neurosciences / Original Communication / Substantia grisea / Temporal lobe / Traumatic brain injury