Association of Positive MRI Findings and Clinical Outcomes in Sub-acute and Chronic Phases of Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Objective This study aims to examine the rates of incidental findings (IF) and radiologic common data elements (rCDE), and to explore how these magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings contribute to a broad assessment of clinical outcomes (symptoms, cognitive and behavioral functioning, and quality of life) in the sub-acute (SA: ∼1 week), early chronic (EC: ∼4 months), and late chronic (LC: ∼1 year) phases of pediatric mild traumatic brain injuries (pmTBI).

Background It is unclear whether MRI findings have clinical implications following injury.

Design/Methods Two hundred thirty-three pmTBI patients and 168 HC aged 8–18 completed an MRI scan and a comprehensive clinical assessment at SA visit, with a subset completing the clinical assessment at EC (182 pmTBI; 158 HC) and LC (143 pmTBI; 141 pmTBI) visits. All MRI findings were noted by board-certified neuroradiologists and coded based on published criteria for rCDE by 2 independent researchers, who were blinded to diagnosis group. A series of 2 × 3 (group [pmTBI vs HC] × MRI findings [IF vs rCDE vs normal]) generalized linear model was conducted for outcomes at each visit. Possible and probable rCDE were pooled for the latter analyses.

Results One hundred sixty-four participants (40.9%) showed positive MRI findings (113 IF, 43 possible rCDE, 8 probable rCDE). As expected, probable rCDE was exclusively observed in pmTBI patients (Fisher's exact one-sided = 0.012), however the incidence of IF and possible rCDE was similar between groups (χ2 = 2.969; p's = 0.085). While group effects were observed on several outcome measures, no interaction of Group × MRI findings survived the correction for multiple comparisons (p's > 0.01). An MRI findings effect (p < 0.001) was observed on child-rated Children's Behavior Questionnaire at SA visit (normal > IF and rCDE; p's = 0.009). However, this effect was no longer significant at EC and LC (p's = 0.439).

Conclusions Overall, the current results do not suggest that MRI findings have clinical implications or interacts with pmTBI to worsen outcomes.