Ross David E
Virginia Institute of Neuropsychiatry, Midlothian, VA 23114, USA.
Brain Inj. 2011;25(13-14):1271-8. doi: 10.3109/02699052.2011.624568.
Structural brain imaging in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) has progressed remarkably over the years with respect to technology and study design.
Published studies of patients with TBI which used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), volumetric measures and a longitudinal design--that is, one in which data were collected at more than one point in time--were reviewed. Some of these studies also included analyses using a cross-sectional (one point in time) approach.
Ten studies met the review criteria. Although methods varied, these studies showed a consistent pattern of brain atrophy which progressed over the months after injury. Effect sizes (brain size differences) between patients and normal control subjects generally were much larger for comparisons using the longitudinal approach than for those using a cross-sectional approach. Furthermore, atrophy correlated significantly with important clinical variables.
In comparison with the cross-sectional design, the longitudinal design may be preferable for understanding the progression of brain atrophy after injury and understanding its association with important clinical variables.
多年来，创伤性脑损伤（TBI）患者的脑结构成像在技术和研究设计方面取得了显著进展。
对已发表的使用磁共振成像（MRI）、体积测量和纵向设计（即数据在多个时间点收集）的TBI患者研究进行了综述。其中一些研究还包括使用横断面（一个时间点）方法的分析。
十项研究符合综述标准。尽管方法各不相同，但这些研究显示出脑萎缩的一致模式，且在受伤后的数月中不断进展。与正常对照受试者相比，患者使用纵向方法比较时的效应量（脑大小差异）通常比使用横断面方法时大得多。此外，萎缩与重要临床变量显著相关。
与横断面设计相比，纵向设计可能更有助于理解损伤后脑萎缩的进展及其与重要临床变量的关联。
