Acute and Mild TBI Injury in Military and Civilian Population Using Advanced MR Imaging

Acute and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in a Military (and Civilian) Population Using Advanced Microstructure Imaging in Novel Ultra-High Performance MRI

This is a prospective longitudinal study of patients with acute mTBI and comparison with chronic mTBI patients and a cohort without history of TBI or none within 5 years of enrollment. The patients will be recruited from the eligible population at military medical centers in the National Capital Region.

All patients seen with suspected mTBI will undergo standard TBI assessment per institutional standard operating procedure. Mild TBI will be defined by Department of Defense/Department of Veterans Affairs Consensus- based Classification of Closed TBI Severity. This project will leverage several existing TBI clinics/programs and benefits from the clinical and technical knowledge gained from each. All participants will undergo the same screening, eligibility assessment, informed consent, baseline history/physical, statement of negative pregnancy status (if applicable), survey questionnaires, VOMS, BESS, King-Devick and abbreviated neurocognitive testing once. Participants will undergo research MRI twice at time points > 2 weeks apart and one clinical MRI. Blood samples will be collected at each study visit. The research blood specimens will be processed immediately, frozen and sent to the WRNMMC Research Laboratory for future biomarker and genomic analysis.

MRI imaging findings (common data elements or newer imaging biomarkers discovered during the initial two-year technical development phase) will be analyzed to determine the most relevant biomarkers indicative of mTBI injury and/or prognosis for recovery. More advanced correlation analysis and relative risk regression will be performed to correlate mTBI and PTSD and their comorbid associations (e.g., depression, anxiety), Statistical tests will be corrected for multiple comparisons as appropriate.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Group A (acute mTBI) Adult (ages 18-55 years) any gender, who is capable of giving informed consent, having neurocognitive testing and questionnaires, able to undergo MRI, and willing to attend at least 3 of the 5 proposed clinic visits at WRNMMC.

  • Has a mild traumatic brain injury for which the individual sought medical attention in an ED/acute care clinic within 72 hours of injury.
  • Diagnosis of mTBI Acute injury and able to enroll in the study within 11 days from injury.

• Group B (Control) Adult (18 to 55 years), any gender, who is capable of undergoing informed consent, having neurocognitive testing and questionnaires, able to undergo MRI, and able to go to WRNMMC for imaging.

  • Has not had a mild traumatic brain injury in the last 5 years or ever.

• Group C (chronic mTBI) Adult (18 to 55 years), any gender, who is able to undergo MRI, and able to go to WRNMMC for imaging, capable of giving informed consent, and having neurocognitive testing and questionnaires.

  • Injury greater than 6 months but fewer than 5 years ago.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Groups A,B,C: Patients with contraindication to MRI (per standard WRNMMC SOP these individuals will not be scanned anyway. Standard WRNMMC MR screening criteria will be used as a part of their normal MR examination- e.g. non-FDA approved pacemakers, aneurysm clips,MR contraindicated metal/metallic devices, etc.).
• Groups A,B,C: Never had a penetrating, moderate or severe TBI at any time.
• Groups A,B,C: Unable to tolerate proposed imaging (e.g. severe claustrophobia, unable to tolerate lying flat for duration of MRI).
• Groups A,B,C: History of pre-existing neurologic condition which would affect the ability to interpret MRI results (such as prior stroke, multiple sclerosis, or brain tumor).
• Groups A,B,C: Patients requiring anesthesia support for sedation
• Groups A,B,C: Pregnant patients
• Groups A,B,C: Any person who is unable to sign/give consent