title: Resting State Functional Connectivity in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury at the Acute Stage: Independent Component and Seed-Based Analyses.
abstract: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) accounts for more than 1 million emergency visits each year. Most of the injured stay in the emergency department for a few hours and are discharged home without a specific follow-up plan because of their negative clinical structural imaging. Advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), particularly functional MRI (fMRI), has been reported as being sensitive to functional disturbances after brain injury. In this study, a cohort of 12 patients with mTBI were prospectively recruited from the emergency department of our local Level-1 trauma center for an advanced MRI scan at the acute stage. Sixteen age- and sex-matched controls were also recruited for comparison. Both group-based and individual-based independent component analysis of resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) demonstrated reduced functional connectivity in both posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and precuneus regions in comparison with controls, which is part of the default mode network (DMN). Further seed-based analysis confirmed reduced functional connectivity in these two regions and also demonstrated increased connectivity between these regions and other regions of the brain in mTBI. Seed-based analysis using the thalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala regions further demonstrated increased functional connectivity between these regions and other regions of the brain, particularly in the frontal lobe, in mTBI. Our data demonstrate alterations of multiple brain networks at the resting state, particularly increased functional connectivity in the frontal lobe, in response to brain concussion at the acute stage. Resting-state functional connectivity of the DMN could serve as a potential biomarker for improved detection of mTBI in the acute setting.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iraji
authors.affiliation: 2 Center for Neurologic Studies , Novi, Michigan.
authors.forename: Randall R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Welch
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: Brian J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: O'Neil
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Psychology, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Woodard
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: Syed Imran
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Ayaz
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kulek
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.|3 Department of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mika
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Medado
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Radiology, Henry Ford Hospital , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Soltanian-Zadeh
authors.affiliation: 6 Department of Computer Science, University of Georgia , Athens, Georgia .
authors.forename: Tianming
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.|7 Department of Radiology, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: E Mark
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Haacke
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.|7 Department of Radiology, Wayne State University , Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: fMRI; functional MRI; functional connectivity; mTBI; mild traumatic brain injury; resting state fMRI