Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

9-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Psychology

Advisor

Junghoon J. Kim

Committee Members

Timothy Ellmore

Elizabeth Kelvin

Ramon Diaz-Arrastia

Nick Tustison

Subject Categories

Neurosciences

Keywords

traumatic brain injury, traumatic axonal injury, neurodegeneration, atrophy

Abstract

The overall goal of this dissertation was to identify patterns of cerebral atrophy following traumatic brain injury and relate relevant imaging measures to that atrophy. In Chapter 2, we outline a spatiotemporal profile of atrophy in the first year following moderate-severe TBI: prior to 3-months post injury, the frontal and temporal cortices were observed to be thinner than controls, and thalamic volumes were reduced. From 3-12 months post-injury, significant atrophy was observed in white matter, subcortical gray matter structures (including thalamus), and cortical thinning was observed in the parietal and occipital cortices.

In Chapter 3, we identified widespread white matter atrophy related to elevated levels of free water within white matter, suggesting inflammation or edema may contribute to white matter atrophy following msTBI. In Chapter 4, we identified a regional pattern of atrophy within the thalamus and demonstrated that these atrophied regions are related regions of the cortex that atrophy during the same time frame as well as the cortico-thalamic fibers which connect them. Chapter 6 describes our second morphometry study in a new sample of TBI patients; we observed that frontal and temporal cortical thinning as early as 2-weeks post injury and identified significant expansion of the parenchyma from 2-weeks to 6-months post-injury. Overall, these results implicate axonal swelling and inflammation as potential indicators of future neurodegeneration following TBI.

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