1H Metabolite Level Changes in Certain Brain Structures During Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Michal Bittsansky¹, Stefan Sivak¹, Jan Grossmann¹, Veronika Ilovska¹, Petra Hnilicova¹, Egon Kurca¹, Dusan Dobrota¹

In patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), our aim was to find correlations between clinical scores and proton metabolite concentrations in different parts of the brain. 21 patients within 2-3 days after injury and 21 matched volunteers were examined with cognitive tests, MR spectroscopic imaging (CSI) and single-voxel spectroscopy. NAA in lateral frontal areas was decreased in all patients, in brain stem only in the individuals with unconsciousness. Significant positive correlations of frontal lateral NAA with cognitive test results were observed. CSI revealed further spatial metabolite information. Our results help resolve the involvement of different brain parts during mTBI.