Current and prospective roles of magnetic resonance imaging in mild traumatic brain injury

Abstract

There is unmet clinical need for biomarkers to predict recovery or the development of long-term sequelae of mild traumatic brain injury, a highly prevalent condition causing a constellation of disabling symptoms. A substantial proportion of patients live with long-lasting sequelae affecting their quality of life and ability to work. At present, symptoms can be assessed through clinical tests, however, there are no imaging or laboratory tests fully reflective of pathophysiology routinely used by clinicians to characterise post-concussive symptoms. Magnetic resonance imaging has potential to link subtle pathophysiological alterations to clinical outcomes. Here, we review the state-of-the-art of MRI research in adults with mild traumatic brain injury and provide recommendations to facilitate transition into clinical practice. Studies utilising MRI can inform on pathophysiology of mild traumatic brain injury. They suggest presence of early cytotoxic and vasogenic oedema. They also show that mild traumatic brain injury results into cellular injury and microbleeds affecting the integrity of myelin and white matter tracts, all processes which appear to induce delayed vascular reactions and functional changes. Crucially, correlates between MRI parameters and post-concussive symptoms are emerging. Clinical sequences such as T1-weighted MRI, susceptibility-weighted MRI or fluid attenuation inversion recovery could be easily implementable in clinical practice, but are not sufficient, in isolation for prognostication. Diffusion sequences have shown promises and, although in need of analysis standardisation, are a research priority. Lastly, arterial spin labelling is emerging as a high utility research as it could become useful to assess delayed neurovascular response and possible long-term symptoms.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcaf120
Divisions: College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Psychology
College of Health & Life Sciences > Aston Institute of Health & Neurodevelopment (AIHN)
Funding Information: The mTBI Predict Consortium was funded by the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, UK. Dr M.S., National Institute for Health and Care Research Academic Clinical Fellow, was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Prof. A.J.S. was fun
Additional Information: Copyright © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Uncontrolled Keywords: biomarkers,concussion,magnetic resonance imaging,magnetic resonance spectroscopy,mild traumatic brain injury,Neurology,Psychiatry and Mental health,Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience,Biological Psychiatry
Publication ISSN: 2632-1297
Last Modified: 06 May 2025 16:01
Date Deposited: 08 Apr 2025 10:36
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://academi ... fcaf120/8093004 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2025-04-16
Published Online Date: 2025-03-25
Accepted Date: 2025-03-24
Authors: Sassani, Matilde
Ghafari, Tara
Arachchige, Pradeepa R W
Idrees, Iman
Gao, Yidian
Waitt, Alice
Weaver, Samuel R C
Mazaheri, Ali
Lyons, Hannah S
Grech, Olivia
Thaller, Mark
Witton, Caroline (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-5610-4234)
Bagshaw, Andrew P
Wilson, Martin
Park, Hyojin
Brookes, Matthew
Novak, Jan (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-5173-3608)
Mollan, Susan P
Hill, Lisa J
Lucas, Samuel J E
Mitchell, James L
, the UK mTBI Predict Consortium
Sinclair, Alexandra J.
Mullinger, Karen
Fernández-Espejo, Davinia

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