In this report, we applied diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) methods in 36 patients with uncomplicated mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and a comparison group of 37 participants with orthopedic injury. Our aim was to characterize regional and global macro- and microstructural attributes of white matter (WM), gray matter (GM), in addition to volume and diffusivity of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to identify and differentiate patterns of acute and short-term recovery. Given that previous DTI reports on mTBI in adults using a region-of-interest approach implicated the corona radiata (CR), corpus callosum, and hippocampus, we analyzed and quantified DTI metrics of these regions using atlas-based methods. The normalized volume percentages of global CSF, GM, and WM were not different between the mTBI and orthopedic comparison (OC) groups at either the baseline or follow-up time points or between the baseline and follow-up time points within the OC group (p>0.17; uncorrected for multiple comparisons). The DTI metrics did not differ between groups at either occasion. However, an increase was noted on follow-up in the OC group in the global mean diffusivity of GM (uncorrected p=0.003) and WM (uncorrected p=0.02), indicating a decrease in diffusivity at the 3-month postinjury, as compared to the baseline scan. An analysis of the DTI data collected longitudinally in the CR show insignificant changes in the OC group (p>0.08; N=37). CR radial diffusivity was found to be elevated in the between-group comparison at baseline (mTBI1 vs. OC1), but did not differ in the within-group comparison (mTBI1 vs. mTBI2; N=19), suggesting the possible resolution of edema. Our analysis of the cross-sectional and follow-up data, which is uncorrected for multiple comparisons, demonstrates dissociation between volumetric (macrostructural) and tissue integrity (microstructural) attributes and shows the potential utility of DTI to capture transient edema in the CR.
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