Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2011 Jul;17(4):663-73. doi: 10.1017/S1355617711000464.
Behavioral dysregulation is a common and detrimental consequence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children that contributes to poor academic achievement and deficits in social development. Unfortunately, behavioral dysregulation is difficult to predict from either injury severity or early neuropsychological evaluation. The uncinate fasciculus (UF) connects orbitofrontal and anterior temporal lobes, which are commonly implicated in emotional and behavioral regulation. Using probabilistic diffusion tensor tractography (DTT), we examined the relationship between the integrity of the UF 3 months post-injury and ratings of executive functions 12 months post-injury in children with moderate to severe TBI and a comparison group with orthopedic injuries. As expected, fractional anisotropy of the UF was lower in the TBI group relative to the orthopedic injury group. DTT metrics from the UF served as a biomarker and predicted ratings of emotional and behavior regulation, but not metacognition. In contrast, the Glasgow Coma Scale score was not related to either UF integrity or to executive function outcomes. Neuroanatomical biomarkers like the uncinate fasciculus may allow for early identification of behavioral problems and allow for investigation into the relationship of frontotemporal networks to brain-behavior relationships.
行为失调是儿童创伤性脑损伤（TBI）的常见且有害的后果，它导致学习成绩不佳和社交发展缺陷。不幸的是，无论是从损伤严重程度还是早期神经心理学评估来看，行为失调都难以预测。钩束（UF）连接眶额和前颞叶，这些区域通常与情绪和行为调节有关。我们使用概率弥散张量纤维束成像（DTT），研究了中重度 TBI 患儿和骨科损伤对照组在损伤后 3 个月 UF 的完整性与损伤后 12 个月执行功能评分之间的关系。正如预期的那样，与骨科损伤组相比，TBI 组的 UF 各向异性分数较低。UF 的 DTT 指标可作为生物标志物，预测情绪和行为调节评分，但不能预测元认知评分。相比之下，格拉斯哥昏迷评分与 UF 完整性或执行功能结果均无关。像钩束这样的神经解剖学生物标志物可以早期识别行为问题，并研究额颞网络与脑-行为关系的关系。
