Aims and objectives
The purpose of this study was to assess memory,
attention,
concentration in patients after traumatic brain injury and to determine correlation between cognitive problems and brain atrophy.
Methods and materials
All patients underwent neuropsychological assessment to determine memory impairment,
attention,
thinking,
speech and visual-spatial functions.
To investigate the organization of memory and attention we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and to evaluate brain atrophy we used voxel-based morphometry.
We studied 25 patients after traumatic brain injury (mean age 29,6±8,9 years),
23 healthy volunteers (28,8±4,3 years) as a control group.FMRI was performed on 1.5 T MR-scanner (Magnetom Symphony) with BOLD (Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent) technique,
that is based on distinctions of magnetic properties of haemoglobin.
Functional...
Results
FMRI showed reduced activation in hippocampal formation and in posterior cingulate gyrus in patients group.
VBM showed general atrophy of grey matter in all patients.
However,
the most significant changes were found in mediobasal temporal lobe (up to 3.6 cm3 at p <0,01) and thalamuses (up to 4.5 cm3 at p = 0,02).In this study we identified patterns of cognitive deficits of varying severity in accordance to the volume changes of certain brain structures.
For this purpose,
a correlation analysis was performed comparing the results...
Conclusion
The study showed that volume decrease of certain brain structures was accompanied by deterioration of specific cognitive functions (memory,
attention and thinking).
Reduced activation in hippocampal formation and in posterior cingulate gyrus in patients correlates to significant atrophy of these regions,
detected by voxel-based morphometry.
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