Evaluation of the association between brain metabolites and cognitive condition in patients with mild traumatic brain injury using magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Background: The relationship between neurometabolic changes after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and psychological disorders is not well defined.Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the relationship between the neurometabolic state of the brain and cognitive tests in mTBI patients and healthy individuals.Methods: This cohort study included 21 mTBI patients (exposed group) and 21 individuals without trauma (non-exposed group).The demographic and trauma information of patients including age, sex, the mechanism of trauma and the GCS score were recorded. Then, the psychological status of the two groups were evaluated by Wechsler, Stroop, and Wisconsin test. Moreover, the levels of neurometabolites were measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Data were analyzed by SPSS software and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The amount of brain metabolites (NAA, choline, creatine, Chol/Cr ratio and NAA/Cr ratio) in the white matter of bilateral frontal lobe in the two exposer and non-exposer groups had no significant difference (P>0.05). Additionally, there was a significant difference between the two groups regarding the correct answers of the Wisconsin test (p=0.027), and the time to complete the Stroop test (p=0.009). No significant difference was observed in the Wechsler memory test score between the two groups (p>0.05).Conclusion: Mild TBI does not lead to changes in brain metabolites in the acute phase after trauma. However, the scores of psychological tests of Stroop and Wisconsin in mTBI patients had a statistically significant difference with healthy individual.