Abstract :
[en] Background and Objectives: Persistent post-concussive symptoms (PCS) consist of
neurologic and psychological complaints persisting after a mild traumatic brain injury
(mTBI). It affects up to 50% of mTBI patients, may cause long-term disability, and reduce
patients’ quality of life. The aim of this review was to examine the possible use of different
neuroimaging modalities in PCS.
Methods: Articles from Pubmed database were screened to extract studies that
investigated the relationship between any neuroimaging features and symptoms of PCS.
Descriptive statistics were applied to report the results.
Results: A total of 80 out of 939 papers were included in the final review. Ten
examined conventional MRI (30% positive finding), 24 examined diffusion weighted
imaging (54.17% positive finding), 23 examined functional MRI (82.61% positive finding),
nine examined electro(magneto)encephalography (77.78% positive finding), and 14
examined other techniques (71% positive finding).
Conclusion: MRI was the most widely used technique, while functional techniques
seem to be the most sensitive tools to evaluate PCS. The common functional patterns
associated with symptoms of PCS were a decreased anti-correlation between the default
mode network and the task positive network and reduced brain activity in specific areas
(most often in the prefrontal cortex).
Significance: Our findings highlight the importance to use functional approaches which
demonstrated a functional alteration in brain connectivity and activity in most studies
assessing PCS.
Scopus citations®
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