Abstract #2894

DTI Abnormalities Following Blast-Related TBI Across 4 Independent Cohorts: Regional Specificity for the Middle Cerebellar Peduncle

Christine MacDonald¹, Ann Johnson¹, Octavian Adam², Dennis Rivet², James Sorrell¹, Brian Sammons¹, Dana Cooper¹, Linda Wierzechowski³, Yolanda Barnes³, John Ritter⁴, Todd May⁵, Maria Barefield², Josh Duckworth², Don Labarge², Dean Asher², Benjamin Drinkwine², Joshua S. Shimony⁶, Matthew Parsons⁶, Abraham Snyder⁶, Michael Russell⁷, John Witherow³, Raymond Fang³, Stephen Flaherty³, David L. Brody⁸

¹Neurology, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, United States; ²NATO Role 3 Kandahar Air Field, Kandahar, Afghanistan; ³Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany; ⁴Bastion Hospital, Helmond Province, Afghanistan; ⁵Camp Leatherneck, Helmond Province, Afghanistan; ⁶Radiology, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, United States; ⁷US Army, San Antonio, TX, United States; ⁸Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO, United States

Blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been called the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the current study, 4 independent cohorts of individuals exposed to blast were studied with diffusion tensor imaging. These cohorts provided a unique opportunity to compare and contrast imaging findings across patients following blast exposure at varying time points post injury; potentially documenting the temporal evolution of this injury. Although each cohort identified regions of reduced anisotropy indicative of white matter injury, only the left middle cerebellar peduncle was found to be abnormal across all 4 cohorts.