title: Neural connection between injured cingulum and pedunculopontine nucleus in a patient with traumatic brain injury.
abstract: We report on a patient with traumatic brain injury who showed neural connection between injured cingulum and pedunculopontine nucleus on diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). A 74-year-old male who had suffered a traffic accident underwent conservative management for subarachnoid haemorrhage. Brain MRI which was performed 6 months after onset showed no specific lesions. On 6-month DTTs for cingulum of the patient, we observed discontinuations of both cingulums above the genu of corpus callosum. However, the left cingulum was connected to the left PPN via a neural tract that passed through the anterior corona radiata and thalamus. The neural connection between the injured cingulum and PPN seems to be a compensatory phenomenon for the destruction of cholinergic pathways from basal forebrain. We believe that this result might suggest one of recovery mechanisms of injured cingulum following brain injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Taegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Seok
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Yeo
authors.forename: Min Cheol
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Seong Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Su Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: Sung Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016880:Anisotropy; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology*; D045042:Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus / Q000473:pathology*