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Elbourn E, Brassel S, Steel J, Togher L. Perceptions of communication recovery following traumatic brain injury: A qualitative investigation across 2 years. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2024; 59:463-482. [PMID: 36239151 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Exploring the perceptions of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) towards their brain injury recovery across the continuum of care may offer insights to support engagement with rehabilitation services. Illness narratives are a potentially valuable avenue for examining perceptions of recovery that may influence engagement. AIMS The aim of this study is to explore the perspective of individuals with severe TBI towards their communication, brain injury and recovery experiences at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years post-injury. METHODS & PROCEDURES Discourse samples were obtained from 12 participants with severe TBI at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years following injury. A standardised protocol was used to elicit responses relating to perceptions of communication, the brain injury narrative, and perceptions of recovery facilitators. A thematic analysis of the discourse samples was completed. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Three overarching themes were identified: experiences of communication recovery are diverse (Theme 1), varied experiences of recovery and rehabilitation (Theme 2), and continuous and lifelong journey of recovery (Theme 3). Primary communication concerns included presence of anomia, dysarthria, conversational topic difficulties, impacts of fatigue and memory difficulties. Illness narratives revealed the importance of re-establishing a sense of self and the perceived importance of a strong social network post-injury. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS The varied nature of communication challenges and recovery after TBI highlights the need for holistic, multidisciplinary support as well as inclusion of family and friends in the recovery process. Social communication intervention is a perceived priority area for individuals with TBI. Illness narratives may also play a valuable role in therapy and help to shape post-injury identity. Managing the impacts of fatigue on communication and encouraging individuals to take ownership over their recovery and treatment may also help to improve patient outcomes. Supporting individuals to construct positive brain injury narratives that reaffirm a sense of self and include perspectives of family and friends may offer a potential future avenue for rehabilitation. Tailored but flexible, team-based service delivery models for individuals with TBI that span from acute to long-term care are warranted. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS?: What is already known on this subject Communication recovery from traumatic brain injury (TBI) is complex and multifaceted. The perceptions of individuals with TBI toward their communication recovery is largely unknown. To establish rehabilitation services that meet the needs of these individuals, we need to understand how they experience communication recovery. What this paper adds to existing knowledge Social communication interventions were perceived as a priority for intervention by individuals with TBI. Fatigue was identified as perceived barrier to communication recovery. Taking ownership over one's recovery process was revealed as a facilitator of recovery. Illness narratives were found to strengthen post-injury identity over time. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Speech pathologists should prioritise social communication interventions and fatigue management for communication. Facilitating ownership of the recovery process and offering long-term supports are key aspects of treatment. Supporting positive illness narratives as part of treatment may facilitate post-injury identity construction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elise Elbourn
- The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Sophie Brassel
- The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Joanne Steel
- The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Leanne Togher
- The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Chen W, Yao C, Li S, Huang H, Zhu Z, Chen R, Su W, Huang X, Xu L, Sun K, Song J, Jiang R, Wang G. Cognitive impairment in diffuse axonal injury patients with favorable outcome. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1077858. [PMID: 36761409 PMCID: PMC9905128 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1077858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Background and purpose Traumatic brain injury (TBI), especially the severe TBI are often followed by persistent cognitive sequalae, including decision-making difficulties, reduced neural processing speed and memory deficits. Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is classified as one of the severe types of TBI. Part of DAI patients are marginalized from social life due to cognitive impairment, even if they are rated as favorable outcome. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the specific type and severity of cognitive impairment in DAI patients with favorable outcome. Methods The neurocognition of 46 DAI patients with favorable outcome was evaluated by the Chinese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Basic (MoCA-BC), and the differences in the domains of cognitive impairment caused by different grades of DAI were analyzed after data conversion of scores of nine cognitive domains of MoCA-BC by Pearson correlation analysis. Results Among the 46 DAI patients with favorable outcome, eight had normal cognitive function (MoCA-BC ≥ 26), and 38 had cognitive impairment (MoCA-BC < 26). The MoCA-BC scores were positively correlated with pupillary light reflex (r = 0.361, p = 0.014), admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) (r = 0.402, p = 0.006), and years of education (r = 0.581, p < 0.001). Return of consciousness (r = -0.753, p < 0.001), Marshall CT (r = -0.328, p = 0.026), age (r = -0.654, p < 0.001), and DAI grade (r = -0.403, p = 0.006) were found to be negatively correlated with the MoCA-BC scores. In patients with DAI grade 1, the actually deducted scores (Ads) of memory (r = 0.838, p < 0.001), abstraction (r = 0.843, p < 0.001), and calculation (r = 0.782, p < 0.001) were most related to the Ads of MoCA-BC. The Ads of nine cognitive domains and MoCA-BC were all proved to be correlated, among patients with DAI grade 2. However, In the DAI grade 3 patients, the highest correlation with the Ads of MoCA-BC were the Ads of memory (r = 0.904, p < 0.001), calculation (r = 0.799, p = 0.006), orientation (r = 0.801, p = 0.005), and executive function (r = 0.869, p = 0.001). Conclusion DAI patients with favorable outcome may still be plagued by cognitive impairment, and different grades of DAI cause different domains of cognitive impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiliang Chen
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People’s Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China
| | - Chunyu Yao
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People’s Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China
| | - Shengwen Li
- The Second Department of Orthopaedics, Haining People’s Hospital, Haining, Zhejiang, China
| | - Hongguang Huang
- Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Zujian Zhu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People’s Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China
| | - Rui Chen
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People’s Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China
| | - Wen Su
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People’s Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China
| | - Xiao Huang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People’s Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China
| | - Lisheng Xu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People’s Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China
| | - Kaijie Sun
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People’s Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China
| | - Jiannan Song
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People’s Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China
| | - Rongcai Jiang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China,Rongcai Jiang,
| | - Guanjun Wang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People’s Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China,*Correspondence: Guanjun Wang,
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Raukola-Lindblom M, Kurki T, Ljungqvist L, Laasonen M, Hämäläinen H, Tenovuo O. Association of cognitive-linguistic deficits to diffusion tensor imaging parameters in moderate to severe traumatic diffuse axonal injury. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. ADULT 2023:1-8. [PMID: 36688868 DOI: 10.1080/23279095.2023.2169885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive-linguistic functions are an essential part of adequate communication competence. Cognitive-linguistic deficits are common after traumatic diffuse axonal injury (DAI). We aimed to examine the integrity of perisylvian white matter tracts known to be associated with linguistic functions in individuals with DAI and their eventual association with poor cognitive-linguistic outcomes. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) results of 44 adults with moderate-to-severe DAI were compared with those of 67 controls. Fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), arcuate fasciculus (AF), SLF with frontal connections to the lower parietal cortex, and AF with temporal connections to the lower parietal cortex were measured using tractography. The associations between white matter integrity FA values and cognitive-linguistic deficits were studied in the DAI group. Cognitive-linguistic deficits were determined based on our earlier study using the novel KAT test. No previous studies have examined the associations between white matter integrity and cognitive-linguistic deficits determined using the KAT test. Patients with DAI showed lower FA values in all left-side tracts than the controls. Unexpectedly, the poor cognitive-linguistic outcome in the language comprehension and production domains was associated with high FA values of several tracts. After excluding five cases with the poorest cognitive-linguistic performance, but with the highest values in the DTI variables, no significant associations with DTI metrics were found. The association between white matter integrity and cognitive-linguistic functioning is complex in patients with DAI of traumatic origin, probably reflecting the heterogeneity of TBI.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Timo Kurki
- Department of Radiology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.,Terveystalo Medical Center, Turku, Finland
| | - Linda Ljungqvist
- City of Turku, Welfare Division, Psychosocial Services, Turku, Finland
| | - Marja Laasonen
- Department of Logopedics, School of Humanities, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
| | - Heikki Hämäläinen
- Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Olli Tenovuo
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.,Turku Brain Injury Center, Neurocenter, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
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Büttner-Kunert J, Blöchinger S, Falkowska Z, Rieger T, Oslmeier C. Interaction of discourse processing impairments, communicative participation, and verbal executive functions in people with chronic traumatic brain injury. Front Psychol 2022; 13:892216. [PMID: 36275227 PMCID: PMC9586152 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.892216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Especially in the chronic phase, individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) (IwTBI) may still have impairments at the discourse level, even if these remain undetected by conventional aphasia tests. As a consequence, IwTBI may be impaired in conversational behavior and disadvantaged in their socio-communicative participation. Even though handling discourse is thought to be a basic requirement for participation and quality of life, only a handful of test procedures assessing discourse disorders have been developed so far. The MAKRO Screening is a recently developed screening tool designed to assess discourse impairments. The test construction is based on psycholinguistic frameworks and the concept of macro-rules, which refer to cognitive functions responsible for organizing and reducing complex information (e.g., propositional content) in discourse. Aim The aim of our study was to investigate discourse processing in IwTBI in different tasks and to assess problems in communicative participation in the post-acute and chronic phase. In this context, we also aimed to analyze the influence of the severity of the initial impairment and the verbal executive abilities on the discourse performance. Additionally, the impact of macrolinguistic discourse impairments and verbal fluency on perceived communicative participation was targeted in our analysis. Methods Data from 23 IwTBI (moderate to severe) and 23 healthy control subjects have been analyzed. They completed two subtests of the MAKRO screening: Text production and Inferences. Discourse performance was examined in relation to measures of semantic fluency and verbal task-switching. Socio-communicative problems were evaluated with the German version of the La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ). Results IwTBI showed lower test results than the control group in the two subtests of the MAKRO-Screening. Difficulties in picture-based narrative text production also indicated greater perceived difficulties in communicative participation (LCQ). We also found that the subject’s performance on the MAKRO-Screening subtests can partly be explained by underlying dysexecutive symptoms (in terms of verbal fluency and verbal task switching) and the severity of their injury. The preliminary results of our study show that cognitive-linguistic symptoms in IwTBI are also evident in the chronic phase. These can be detected with procedures referring to the discourse level, such as the MAKRO-Screening. The assessment of discourse performance should be an integral part in the rehabilitation of IwTBI in order to detect cognitive-linguistic communication disorders and to evaluate their impact on socio-communicative participation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Büttner-Kunert
- Department of Linguistics, Project NEUROPRAG, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
- Department of Linguistics, Speech-Language-Therapy, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
- *Correspondence: Julia Büttner-Kunert,
| | - Sarah Blöchinger
- Department of Linguistics, Project NEUROPRAG, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
- Department of Linguistics, Speech-Language-Therapy, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
| | - Zofia Falkowska
- Department of Linguistics, Project NEUROPRAG, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
- Department of Linguistics, Speech-Language-Therapy, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
| | - Theresa Rieger
- Department of Linguistics, Speech-Language-Therapy, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
| | - Charlotte Oslmeier
- Department of Linguistics, Speech-Language-Therapy, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
- Speech-Language Therapy Unit, NEUROKOM, Bad Tölz, Germany
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Chen W, Wang G, Yao C, Zhu Z, Chen R, Su W, Jiang R. The ratio of serum neuron-specific enolase level to admission glasgow coma scale score is associated with diffuse axonal injury in patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. Front Neurol 2022; 13:887818. [PMID: 36119705 PMCID: PMC9475250 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2022.887818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is frequently accompanied by diffuse axonal injury (DAI). Considering the low sensitivity of computed tomography (CT) examination for microbleeds and axonal damage, identification of DAI is difficult using conventional diagnostic methods in the acute phase. Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) has been demonstrated to be increased in serum following various types of TBI and is already clinically/commercially available. We conjecture that serum NSE level to admission GCS score ratio (NGR) may be a useful indicator for the early diagnosis of DAI. Methods This study included 115 patients with moderate-to-severe TBI who underwent NSE measurements within 6 h after injury and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 30 days. The positive and negative DAI groups were divided according to MRI findings. Results Among the 115 patients, 49 (42.6%) were classified into the DAI group and 66 (57.4%) patients into the non-DAI group by clinical MRI. The NGR of patients without DAI was found to be significantly lower than those of patients with DAI (p < 0.0001). NGR presented the largest Pearson r value (r = 0.755, 95% CI 0.664–0.824, p < 0.0001) and high diagnostic accuracy for DAI [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.9493; sensitivity, 90.91%; and specificity, 85.71%]. Patients with TBI presenting with higher NGR were more likely to suffer an unfavorable neurological outcome [6-month extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOSE) 1–4]. Conclusions The NGR on admission could serve as an independent predictor of DAI with moderate-to-severe TBI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiliang Chen
- Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- Key Laboratory of Post-Neuroinjury Neuro-repair and Regeneration in the Central Nervous System, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Injury and Regenerative Medicine of Nervous System, Tianjin Neurological Institute, Ministry of Education, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People's Hospital, Jiaxing, China
| | - Guanjun Wang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People's Hospital, Jiaxing, China
| | - Chunyu Yao
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People's Hospital, Jiaxing, China
| | - Zujian Zhu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People's Hospital, Jiaxing, China
| | - Rui Chen
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People's Hospital, Jiaxing, China
| | - Wen Su
- Department of Neurosurgery, Haining People's Hospital, Jiaxing, China
| | - Rongcai Jiang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- Key Laboratory of Post-Neuroinjury Neuro-repair and Regeneration in the Central Nervous System, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Injury and Regenerative Medicine of Nervous System, Tianjin Neurological Institute, Ministry of Education, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
- *Correspondence: Rongcai Jiang
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