Abstract #2392

Longitudinal changes of neurovascular responses to breathhold challenge in patients with moderate traumatic brain injury

Suk-tak Chan¹, Jonathan Welt², Emad Ahmadi³, Jacqueline Namati², Michael Lev³, Jarone Lee⁴, Benjamin Vakoc², Eva Ratai¹, Anastasia Yendiki¹, Blair A Parry⁴, Cora Ordway⁵, and Rajiv Gupta³

¹Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States, ²Department of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, ³Division of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, ⁴Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, ⁵Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States

There is an increasing evidence that neurovascular dysregulation contributes to the persistent symptoms in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Damaged microvasculature may disrupt the neurovascular coupling, especially under physiological stress, where the local cerebral blood flow (CBF) no longer matches the metabolic requirements of the tissue. Our findings of negative or abnormally delayed blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal changes in response to breathhold challenge can potentially be used as an imaging marker to localize subtle abnormal vascular function in individual patients with moderate TBI. The restoration of abnormally delayed BOLD responses at chronic stage suggest that such an imaging marker may be used to follow up the patients.

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