Assessing Glymphatic Dysfunction in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients Using Delayed T1 Mapping
Motivation: Impaired waste clearance through the glymphatic pathway may contribute to neurodegeneration after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Goal(s): Our goal is to assess glymphatic dysfunction by tracking gadolinium clearance following intravenous injection in TBI patients and correlating it with cognitive impairments. Approach: We conducted MRI scans on 38 chronic TBI patients, using T1 mapping at immediate and 6-hour post-injection intervals. Results: Results indicate that slower gadolinium clearance at delayed 6hr time point, seen as higher T1 reduction, correlates with older age and worse cognitive scores. These findings could establish delayed T1 mapping as a marker for glymphatic health. Impact: Intravenous T1 mapping provides a non-invasive alternative to intrathecal gadolinium injection for glymphatic system assessment. This method may help validate other contrast-free glymphatic markers, facilitating broader clinical research and improving non-invasive neurodegenerative risk assessments in patients.
Authors
- Prashant Raghavan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6089-733X)
- Jiachen Zhuo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6637-701X)
- Eugenio R. Rocksmith
- Lynn M. Grattan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6509-2186)
- Steven Roys (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8685-213X)
- Gary Schwartzbauer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1799-6954)
- Emerson M. Wickwire (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2858-7742)
- Neeraj Badjatia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1509-9034)
- Tobias Kober (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7598-9456)
- Rao P. Gullapalli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0551-0379)
- Rosy Linda Njonkou Tchoquessi
- Jiang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5596-9159)
- Ze Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8339-5567)
- Pan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2672-654X)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Proceedings on CD-ROM - International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Scientific Meeting and Exhibition/Proceedings of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Scientific Meeting and Exhibition
- Published
- 2025-09-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.58530/2025/0688
- Primary Topic
- Cerebrospinal fluid and hydrocephalus
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00