Journal of neuroscience research
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This prospective study of traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients investigates fractional anisotropy (FA) from chronic diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in areas corresponding to persistent and transient traumatic axonal injury (TAI) lesions detected in clinical MRI from the early phase. Thirty-eight patients (mean 24.7 [range 13-63] years of age) with moderate-to-severe TBI and 42 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included. Patients underwent 1.5-T clinical MRI in the early phase (median 7 days), including fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and T2* gradient echo (T2*GRE) sequences. ⋯ The demonstrated linear trend of lower FA values from healthy controls to persistent lesion ROIs was found in both nonhemorrhagic and microhemorrhagic lesions and indicates a gradual increasing disruption of the microstructure. Lower FA values in persistent compared with transient lesions were found only in nonhemorrhagic lesions. Thus, clinical MRI techniques are able to depict important aspects of white matter pathology across the stages of TBI. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.