Patterns of Cortical Thinning in Relation to Event-Based Prospective Memory Performance Three Months after Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in Children

Abstract

While event-based prospective memory (EB-PM) tasks are a familiar part of daily life for children, currently no data exists concerning the relation between EB-PM performance and brain volumetrics after traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study investigated EB-PM in children (7 to 17 years) with moderate to severe TBI or orthopedic injuries. Participants performed an EB-PM task and concurrently underwent neuroimaging at three months postinjury. Surface reconstruction and cortical thickness analysis were performed using FreeSurfer software. Cortical thickness was significantly correlated with EB-PM (adjusting for age). Significant thinning in the left (dorsolateral and inferior prefrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate, temporal lobe, fusiform, and parahippocampal gyri), and right hemispheres (dorsolateral, inferior, and medial prefrontal cortex, cingulate, and temporal lobe) correlated positively and significantly with EB-PM performance; findings are comparable to those of functional neuroimaging and lesion studies of EB-PM.

Notes

This work was presented (in part) at the 7th annual meeting of the North American Brain Injury Society, Austin, Texas, October 2009 and was supported by National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research grant K23-HD40896 (“Prospective memory in normal and head-injured children,” McCauley, PI) and National Institute Neurological Disorders and Stroke grant R01-NS21889 (“Neurobehavioral outcome of head injury in children,” Levin, PI). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research or the National Institutes of Health.