Cortical thickness in pediatric mild traumatic brain injury including sports-related concussion

This investigation explored whether differences in cortical thickness could be detected in children who sustained a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) compared to those with orthopedic injury (OI) and whether cortical thickness related parental reporting of symptoms. To achieve this objective, FreeSurfer®-based cortical thickness measures were obtained in 330 children, 8 to 15 years of age, with either a history of mTBI or OI. Imaging was performed in all participants with the same 3 Tesla MRI scanner at six-months post-injury, where a parent-rated Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory (PCSI) was also obtained. Robust age-mediated reductions in cortical thickness were observed, but no consistent group-based differences between the mTBI and OI groups were observed. Also, the relation between mechanism of injury (i.e., sports-related, recreational, fall, motor vehicle accident or other) and cortical thickness was examined. Injuries associated with any type of abuse were excluded and children with OI could not have experienced a MVA. Mechanism of injury did not differentially relate to cortical thickness, although in the fall group, parental rating using the PCSI showed increased symptom reporting to be associated with reduced cortical thickness in the left interior frontal, temporal pole and lateral temporal lobe as well as in the right temporal pole. Results from these preliminary findings are discussed in terms of injury variables and developmental factors associated with mTBI in childhood.