title: Functional neuroimaging of traumatic brain injury: advances and clinical utility.
abstract: Functional deficits due to traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have significant and enduring consequences upon patients' life quality and expectancy. Although functional neuroimaging is essential for understanding TBI pathophysiology, an insufficient amount of effort has been dedicated to the task of translating functional neuroimaging findings into information with clinical utility. The purpose of this review is to summarize the use of functional neuroimaging techniques - especially functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and electroencephalography - for advancing current knowledge of TBI-related brain dysfunction and for improving the rehabilitation of TBI patients. We focus on seven core areas of functional deficits, namely consciousness, motor function, attention, memory, higher cognition, personality, and affect, and, for each of these, we summarize recent findings from neuroimaging studies which have provided substantial insight into brain function changes due to TBI. Recommendations are also provided to aid in setting the direction of future neuroimaging research and for understanding brain function changes after TBI.
authors.affiliation: USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Irimia
authors.affiliation: USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: John Darrell
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Van Horn
keywords: cognitive decline; diffusion tensor imaging; magnetic resonance imaging; personality change