Abstract #0642

Mapping Traumatic Axonal Injury Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging: Correlations with Functional Outcome

Virginia FJ Newcombe^1,2, Doris A. Chatfield^1,2, Martin R. Coleman³, Joanne G. Outtrim^1,2, Sarah Vowler⁴, Anne Manktelow^1,2, Justin Cross⁵, Sally G. Harding², Peter JA Hutchinson⁶, Jonathan P. Coles^1,2, T.Adrian Carpenter², John D. Pickard^3,6, Guy B. Williams², David K. Menon^1,3

¹Division of Anaesthesia, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK; ²Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK; ³Cambridge Impaired Consciousness Group, Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre; ⁴Centre for Applied Medical Statistics, University of Cambridge; ⁵Department of Radiology, Addenbrookes Hospital; ⁶Academic Department of Neurosurgery, University of Cambridge

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The extent and severity of traumatic axonal injury (TAI) is greatly underestimated by CT and conventional MR sequences, and these appearances often correlate poorly with functional outcome. This study investigated trends in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters in the central white matter to clinical outcome as defined by the Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) in a cohort of sixty-one patients with clinical outcomes ranging from the vegetative state (VS) and minimally conscious state (MCS) spectrum (GOS 2) through to good recovery (GOS 5).