White matter hyperintensities increases with traumatic brain injury severity: associations to neuropsychological performance and fatigue.

Objective

To examine the prevalence of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) as compared to healthy controls, and to investigate whether there is an association between WMH lesion burden and performance on neuropsychological tests in patients with TBI.

Methods

A total of 59 patients with TBI and 27 age- and gender-matched healthy controls underwent thorough neuropsychological testing and magnetic resonance imaging. The quantification of WMH lesions was performed using the fully automated Lesion Segmentation Tool.

Results

WMH lesions were more common in patients with TBI than in healthy controls (p = .032), and increased with higher TBI severity (p = .025). Linear regressions showed that WMH lesions in patients with TBI were not related to performance on any neuropsychological tests (p > .05 for all). However, a negative relationship between number of WMH lesions in patients with TBI and self-assessed fatigue was found (r = - 0.33, p = .026).

Conclusion

WMH lesions are more common in patients with TBI than in healthy controls, and WMH lesions burden increases with TBI severity. These lesions could not explain decreased cognitive functioning in patients with TBI but did relate to decreased self-assessment of fatigue after TBI.