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Fractal dimension brain morphometry: a novel approach to quantify white matter in traumatic brain injury

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A Correction to this article was published on 03 November 2020

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Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the main cause of disability in people younger than 35 in the United States. The mechanisms of TBI are complex resulting in both focal and diffuse brain damage. Fractal dimension (FD) is a measure that can characterize morphometric complexity and variability of brain structure especially white matter (WM) structure and may provide novel insights into the injuries evident following TBI. FD-based brain morphometry may provide information on WM structural changes after TBI that is more sensitive to subtle structural changes post injury compared to conventional MRI measurements. Anatomical and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data were obtained using a 3 T MRI scanner in subjects with moderate to severe TBI and in healthy controls (HC). Whole brain WM volume, grey matter volume, cortical thickness, cortical area, FD and DTI metrics were evaluated globally and for the left and right hemispheres separately. A neuropsychological test battery sensitive to cognitive impairment associated with traumatic brain injury was performed. TBI group showed lower structural complexity (FD) bilaterally (p < 0.05). No significant difference in either grey matter volume, cortical thickness or cortical area was observed in any of the brain regions between TBI and healthy controls. No significant differences in whole brain WM volume or DTI metrics between TBI and HC groups were observed. Behavioral data analysis revealed that WM FD accounted for a significant amount of variance in executive functioning and processing speed beyond demographic and DTI variables. FD therefore, may serve as a sensitive marker of injury and may play a role in outcome prediction in TBI.

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  • 03 November 2020

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Abbreviations

BET:

Brain Extraction Tool

DTI:

Diffusion Tensor Imaging

FAST:

FMRIB’s Automated Segmentation Tool

FD:

Fractal Dimension

FLIRT:

FMRIB’s Linear Image Registration Tool

FMRIB:

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Brain

FNIRT:

FMRIB’s Nonlinear Image Registration Tool

FSL:

Functional MRI of the brain Software Libraries

FWER:

Family-Wise Error Rate

FWHM:

Full-Width Half-Maximum

GLM:

general linear model

GM:

grey matter

MPRAGE:

magnetization prepared rapid gradient echo

MRI:

magnetic resonance imaging

SPM:

statistical parametric mapping

TBI:

Traumatic Brain Injury

VBM:

voxel based morphometry

WM:

white matter

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Acknowledgements

This study was partially supported by a grant of New Jersey Commission on Brain Injury Research (CBIR15MIG004).

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Author notes

  1. Venkateswaran Rajagopalan and Abhijit Das equally contributed to this work as co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad, India

    Venkateswaran Rajagopalan

  2. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA

    Venkateswaran Rajagopalan, Abhijit Das, Glenn R. Wylie & Guang H. Yue

  3. Neuroscience and Neuropsychology Research, Kessler Foundation, 120 Eagle Rock Avenue, East Hanover, NJ, 07936, USA

    Abhijit Das & Glenn R. Wylie

  4. LZ Biomedical Inc., Westminster, CO, 80021, USA

    Luduan Zhang

  5. Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, 313 Moore Building, University Park, PA, 16801, USA

    Frank Hillary

  6. Human Performance and Engineering Research, Kessler Foundation, 1199 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, 07052, USA

    Guang H. Yue

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Rajagopalan, V., Das, A., Zhang, L. et al. Fractal dimension brain morphometry: a novel approach to quantify white matter in traumatic brain injury. Brain Imaging and Behavior 13, 914–924 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-018-9892-2

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