title: Voxel-based statistical analysis of thalamic glucose metabolism in traumatic brain injury: relationship with consciousness and cognition.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the relationship between thalamic glucose metabolism and neurological outcome after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-nine patients with severe and closed TBI and 10 healthy control subjects with (18)F-FDG PET were studied. Patients were divided into three groups: MCS&VS group (n = 17), patients in a vegetative or a minimally conscious state; In-PTA group (n = 12), patients in a state of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA); and Out-PTA group (n = 20), patients who had emerged from PTA. SPM5 software implemented in MATLAB 7 was used to determine the quantitative differences between patients and controls. FDG-PET images were spatially normalized and an automated thalamic ROI mask was generated. Group differences were analysed with two sample voxel-wise t-tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thalamic hypometabolism was the most prominent in patients with low consciousness (MCS&VS group) and the thalamic hypometabolism in the In-PTA group was more prominent than that in the Out-PTA group. Healthy control subjects showed the greatest thalamic metabolism. These differences in metabolism were more pronounced in the internal regions of the thalamus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results confirm the vulnerability of the thalamus to suffer the effect of the dynamic forces generated during a TBI. Patients with thalamic hypometabolism could represent a sub-set of subjects that are highly vulnerable to neurological disability after TBI.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Informática Biomédica, Instituto de Aplicaciones de las Tecnologías de la Información y de las Comunicaciones Avanzadas (ITACA), Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lull
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Noé
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lull
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García-Panach
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chirivella
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferri
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: López-Aznar
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sopena
authors.forename: Montse
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Robles
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000647:Amnesia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018458:Persistent Vegetative State / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005947:Glucose