Mild hypothermia for treatment of diffuse axonal injury: a quantitative analysis of diffusion tensor imaging

Abstract

Fractional anisotropy values in diffusion tensor imaging can quantitatively reflect the consistency of nerve fibers after brain damage, where higher values generally indicate less damage to nerve fibers. Therefore, we hypothesized that diffusion tensor imaging could be used to evaluate the effect of mild hypothermia on diffuse axonal injury. A total of 102 patients with diffuse axonal injury were randomly divided into two groups: normothermic and mild hypothermic treatment groups. Patient's modified Rankin scale scores 2 months after mild hypothermia were significantly lower than those for the normothermia group. The difference in average fractional anisotropy value for each region of interest before and after mild hypothermia was 1.32-1.36 times higher than the value in the normothermia group. Quantitative assessment of diffusion tensor imaging indicates that mild hypothermia therapy may be beneficial for patients with diffuse axonal injury.

5′‐Adenosine Monophosphate‐Induced Hypothermia Attenuates Brain Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in a Rat Model by Inhibiting the Inflammatory Response

“…Mild or deep hypothermia has yielded beneficial results in animal models of brain ischemic injury [ 3 , 4 ]. Artificially lowering body and brain temperatures can significantly reduce the deleterious effects of several forms of brain injury, including traumatic brain injury [ 5 ], stroke [ 6 ], and neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy [ 7 ]. However, despite widespread recognition of the beneficial effects of hypothermia, acceptance of this method of treatment within the medical community is limited.…”