Pediatric traumatic brain injury: Neuroimaging and neurorehabilitation outcome

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wilde, Elisabeth A.^{a; b; c; d; *} | Hunter, Jill V.^{a; c; e} | Bigler, Erin D.^{f; g; h; i}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA | [b] Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA | [c] Department of Radiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA | [d] Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA | [e] Department of Pediatric Radiology, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA | [f] Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA | [g] The Neuroscience Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA | [h] The Brain Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA | [i] Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Elisabeth A. Wilde, Ph.D., Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Tel.: +1 713 798 7331; Fax: +1 713 798 6898; E-mail: ewilde@bcm.edu

Abstract: Brain injury in the pediatric patient not only occurs in an immature brain, but potentially influences all subsequent brain and neurodevelopmental maturation. This presents unique challenges in neuroimaging the developing central nervous system, which is reviewed herein. The most significant neuroimaging advances in assessing pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) have occurred with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), particularly diffusion tensor imaging and the multiple emerging techniques using functional MRI (fMRI). Pediatric neuroimaging findings of TBI are discussed in terms of techniques that can assess underlying neural networks and provide information about neuroplasticity of recovery. Neuroimaging methods also provide insights into the complexities of brain injury, cognitive and neurobehavioral recovery, and how multimodality contemporary neuroimaging methods best demonstrate underlying neuropathology that affects outcome.

Keywords: Neuroimaging, neurorehabilitation, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), children

DOI: 10.3233/NRE-2012-0794

Journal: NeuroRehabilitation, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 245-260, 2012