Damage to the Optic Radiation in Patients With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

BACKGROUND

There are known limitations of conventional computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in detecting neural injury in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provides a method to further assess cerebral injury in this patient population. We report 2 patients with mild TBI who showed injury of the optic radiation (OR) as demonstrated by DTI.

METHOD: Two patients who complained of visual field loss after mild TBI and 9 age-matched normal control subjects were recruited for this study. Peripheral field defects were detected with automated perimetry in both patients.

RESULTS

Regarding the configuration of OR, the total volume of OR was decreased in the right OR of both patients compared with controls; in contrast, the left ORs were divided into 2 parts in both patients. The voxel numbers of both ORs in both patients were more than 2 standard deviations lower than that of normal control subjects. The apparent diffusion coefficient value of the right OR in patient 2 was more than 2 standard deviations higher than that of normal controls.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrated injury of the OR using DTI in 2 patients who showed visual field defects after mild TBI.