Virginia Newcombe1, Linus Schumacher2, Guy Williams3, Jo Outtrim1, Anne Manktelow1, Jonathan Coles1, Peter Hutchinson4, Marta Correia2, David Menon1
1Division of Anaesthesia, Cambridge University, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom; 2MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge University; 3Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, Cambridge University; 4Academic Department of Neurosurgery, Cambridge University
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is clear that many of the sequelae are not just direct consequences of the acute but event represent dynamic processes with changes occurring many years after the precipitating injury. In this study, the temporal course of white matter injury from acute to chronic phases after injury was quantified using probabilistic tractography. Such knowledge of longitudinal change is important to aid interpretation of imaging findings, to provide further insight into pathophysiology, and help to provide a framework that allows DTI to be used as an imaging biomarker of therapy response.