Spatial Distribution of Brain Microhemorrhage Resulting from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Wednesday, November 06, 2013 — Poster Session I
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.	FAES Academic Center (Upper-Level Terrace)	CC	NEURO-21

Authors

N Li
Y Chou
D Joy
L Chan
DL Pham
JA Butman

Abstract

This study examines the spatial distribution of microbleeds in a series of 46 sequential patients enrolled in a natural history study of TBI. SWI (TE=25ms, FA=20°, 0.49×0.49×2.0 mm) and 3D T1-MPRAGE images were acquired on a 3T Siemens Biograph mMR. Images were reviewed by a neuroradiologist on a Carestream PACS workstation, and microbleeds were labeled using the “marker” graphic tool. A total of 629 microbleeds were identified. An average of 13±34 (range=1-179) microbleeds were identified in the 24 positive patients. To characterize the distribution in standard MNI space, the T1-MPRAGE was affine registered to the MNI template. This transformation was applied to the co-registered SWI and the markers. Microbleeds congregated around the periphery of the brain and were symmetrically distributed, although a number were found in the corpus callosum. Using Talairach ROI analysis, microbleeds were most prevalent in the frontal lobes (59.9%). The lobar distribution was temporal: 10.1%, parietal 1.3%, occipital: 4.7%, limbic: 3.6%. Sublobar distribution was brainstem: 1.4%, cerebellum: 4.8%, deep cerebral white matter (WM): 6.8%, thalamus and basal ganglia: 1.3%. Future work will expand the analysis to additional subjects and more detailed regions such as WM tracts, as well as examine distribution differences between impact and blast injuries.