Changes in functional connectivity following intensive attention training in patients with traumatic brain injury. A pilot study

Hanna Persson; Tie-Qiang Li; Gabriela Markovic

doi:10.2340/jrmcc.v7.12436

Authors

Hanna Persson Division of Rehabilitation Medicine, Danderyd University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Tie-Qiang Li Department of Clinical Science, Intervention, and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Medical Radiation and Nuclear Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4866-5904
Gabriela Markovic Department of Clinical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Danderyd University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, Division of Rehabilitation Medicine, Danderyd University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7500-9531

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2340/jrmcc.v7.12436

Keywords:

attention process training (APT), language capacity, traumatic brain injury (TBI), fMRI, functional connectivity metrics

Abstract

Objective: To explore functional connectivity after intensive attention training in the chronic phase after traumatic brain injury as clinical evidence indicates that intensive attention training improves attention dysfunction in persons with traumatic brain injury.

Design and subjects: A case series study. Two young adults, 13- and 18-months post traumatic brain injury, with traumatic brain injury induced attention deficits were assigned to 20 h of intensive attention training and neuroimaging.

Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging during a psychomotor vigilance test was conducted pre- and post-intervention.

Results: The neuroimaging indicated both increased and decreased connectivity density in frontal, posterior and subcortical brain regions, for some regions with separate change patterns for left and right hemisphere respectively, and an overall reduction in variability in functional connectivity.

Conclusion: The changed and decreased variability of functional connectivity in various brain regions, captured by fMRI during a psychomotor vigilance test after direct attention training in a small sample of persons with traumatic brain injury, suggests further studies of functional connectivity changes in neural networks.

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