AUTHOR=Mortaheb Sepehr , Filippini Maria Maddalena , Kaux Jean-François , Annen Jitka , Lejeune Nicolas , Martens Géraldine , Calderón Maria Antonia Fuentes , Laureys Steven , Thibaut Aurore
TITLE=Neurophysiological Biomarkers of Persistent Post-concussive Symptoms: A Scoping Review
JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology
VOLUME=12
YEAR=2021
URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2021.687197
DOI=10.3389/fneur.2021.687197
ISSN=1664-2295
ABSTRACT=Background and Objectives: Persistent post-concussive symptoms (PCS) consist of neurologic and psychological complaints persisting after a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). It affects up to 50% of mTBI patients, may cause long-term disability, and reduce patients' quality of life. The aim of this review was to examine the possible use of different neuroimaging modalities in PCS.
Methods: Articles from Pubmed database were screened to extract studies that investigated the relationship between any neuroimaging features and symptoms of PCS. Descriptive statistics were applied to report the results.
Results: A total of 80 out of 939 papers were included in the final review. Ten examined conventional MRI (30% positive finding), 24 examined diffusion weighted imaging (54.17% positive finding), 23 examined functional MRI (82.61% positive finding), nine examined electro(magneto)encephalography (77.78% positive finding), and 14 examined other techniques (71% positive finding).
Conclusion: MRI was the most widely used technique, while functional techniques seem to be the most sensitive tools to evaluate PCS. The common functional patterns associated with symptoms of PCS were a decreased anti-correlation between the default mode network and the task positive network and reduced brain activity in specific areas (most often in the prefrontal cortex).
Significance: Our findings highlight the importance to use functional approaches which demonstrated a functional alteration in brain connectivity and activity in most studies assessing PCS.