Multi-Modal Analysis of Resting-State fMRI Data in mTBI Patients and Association With Neuropsychological Outcomes

Various cognitive disorders have been reported for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) patients during the acute stage. This acute stage provides an opportunity for clinicians to optimize treatment protocols, which are based on the evaluation of brain structural connectivity. So far, most brain functional magnetic resonance imaging studies are focused on moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). In this study, we prospectively collected resting state data on 50 mTBI within 3 days of injury and 50 healthy volunteers and analyzed them using Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), Regional Homogeneity (ReHo), graph theory methods and behavior measure, to explore the dysfunctional brain regions in acute mTBI. In our study, a total of 50 patients suffering <3 days mTBI and 50 healthy subjects were tested in rs-fMRI, as well as under neuropsychological examinations including the Wechsler Intelligence Scale and Stroop Color and Word Test. The correlation analysis was conducted between graph theoretic parameters and neuropsychological results. For the mTBI group, the ReHo of the inferior temporal gyrus and the cerebellum superior are significantly lower than in the control group, and the ALFF of the left insula, the cerebellum inferior, and the middle occipital gyrus were significantly higher than in the control group, which implies the dysfunctionality usually observed in Parkinson's disease. Executive function disorder was significantly correlated with the global efficiencies of the dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus and the anterior cingulate cortex, which is consistent with the literature: the acute mTBI patients demonstrate abnormality in terms of motor speed, association, information processing speed, attention, and short-term memory function. Correlation analysis between the neuropsychological outcomes and the network efficiency for the mTBI group indicates that executive dysfunction might be caused by local brain changes. Our data support the idea that the cerebral internal network has compensatory reactions in response to sudden pathological and neurophysiological changes. In the future, multimode rs-fMRI analysis could be a valuable tool for evaluating dysfunctional brain regions after mTBI.