Pediatric traumatic brain injury: Language outcomes and their relationship to the arcuate fasciculus

TY - JOUR

T1 - Pediatric traumatic brain injury

T2 - Language outcomes and their relationship to the arcuate fasciculus

AU - Liegeois, Frederique J.

AU - Mahony, Kate

AU - Connelly, Alan

AU - Pigdon, Lauren

AU - Tournier, Jacques-Donald

AU - Morgan, Angela T.

PY - 2013/12

Y1 - 2013/12

N2 - Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) may result in long-lasting language impairments alongside dysarthria, a motor-speech disorder. Whether this co-morbidity is due to the functional links between speech and language networks, or to widespread damage affecting both motor and language tracts, remains unknown. Here we investigated language function and diffusion metrics (using diffusion-weighted tractography) within the arcuate fasciculus, the uncinate fasciculus, and the corpus callosum in 32 young people after TBI (approximately half with dysarthria) and age-matched healthy controls (n = 17). Only participants with dysarthria showed impairments in language, affecting sentence formulation and semantic association. In the whole TBI group, sentence formulation was best predicted by combined corpus callosum and left arcuate volumes, suggesting this "dual blow" seriously reduces the potential for functional reorganisation. Word comprehension was predicted by fractional anisotropy in the right arcuate. The co-morbidity between dysarthria and language deficits therefore seems to be the consequence of multiple tract damage.

AB - Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) may result in long-lasting language impairments alongside dysarthria, a motor-speech disorder. Whether this co-morbidity is due to the functional links between speech and language networks, or to widespread damage affecting both motor and language tracts, remains unknown. Here we investigated language function and diffusion metrics (using diffusion-weighted tractography) within the arcuate fasciculus, the uncinate fasciculus, and the corpus callosum in 32 young people after TBI (approximately half with dysarthria) and age-matched healthy controls (n = 17). Only participants with dysarthria showed impairments in language, affecting sentence formulation and semantic association. In the whole TBI group, sentence formulation was best predicted by combined corpus callosum and left arcuate volumes, suggesting this "dual blow" seriously reduces the potential for functional reorganisation. Word comprehension was predicted by fractional anisotropy in the right arcuate. The co-morbidity between dysarthria and language deficits therefore seems to be the consequence of multiple tract damage.

KW - Pediatric brain injury

KW - Expressive language

KW - Dysarthria

KW - Tractography

KW - Arcuate fasciculus

KW - DIFFUSION TENSOR TRACTOGRAPHY

KW - CHILDHOOD HEAD-INJURY

KW - AXONAL INJURY

KW - UNCINATE FASCICULUS

KW - CHILDREN

KW - RECOVERY

KW - IMPAIRMENT

KW - PATHWAYS

KW - SPEECH

KW - LATERALIZATION

U2 - 10.1016/j.bandl.2013.05.003

DO - 10.1016/j.bandl.2013.05.003

M3 - Article

SN - 0093-934X

VL - 127

SP - 388

EP - 398

JO - Brain and Language

JF - Brain and Language

IS - 3

M1 - N/A

ER -