Recovery of Injured Optic Radiations in a Patient with Hypoxic-Ischaemic Brain Injury

ABSTRACT

The introduction of diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) has made three-dimensional reconstruction of the optic radiation (OR) possible in the human brain. A 19-year-old female patient underwent conservative management for hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury. Four months after onset she was transferred to the rehabilitation department of our university hospital. The patient was in a vegetative state with a coma recovery scale-revised (CRS-R) score of nine. She underwent comprehensive rehabilitation, which included medications, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. Transcranial direct current stimulation was applied to the upper occipital area. After one month of rehabilitation, she had recovered to a minimally conscious state with a CRS-R score of 15. Some recovery of the injured ORs was demonstrated by DTT.

KEYWORDS:

• Optic radiation
• diffusion tensor tractography
• hypoxic-ischemic brain injury
• consciousness

Author contributions

Sung Ho Jang: Study concept and design, manuscript development and writing, You Sung Seo: Acquisition and analysis of data, manuscript authorization.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean Government (MSIP) (No. 2018R1A2B6000996).