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Advanced Neurology

REVIEW ARTICLE
Long-term neurocognitive follow-up in

children with traumatic brain injury: A
literature review and monocentric cohort

study

2
4
Ilaria Liguoro 1,2†* , Tiziana Zilli 3†* , Eva Passone , Maria Cristina de Colle ,
1,2,
Michele Patui Annalisa Lo Sasso and Paola Cogo 1,2
1,2,
1 Department of Medicine DAME - Division of Pediatrics, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
2 Division of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Central Friuli, Udine, Italy
3 Scientific Institute IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Pasian di Prato, Udine, Italy
4 Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital of Udine, Udine, Italy

Abstract

Children with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) may experience long-term
† These authors contributed equally
to this work. cognitive sequelae. However, previous study results have been controversial. It
remains unclear whether clinical follow-up is useful, how long patients should be
*Corresponding authors:
Ilaria Liguoro followed-up, and which psychological dimensions should be investigated. Herein,
(Ilaria.liguoro@asufc.sanita.fvg.it) we described neurocognitive evolution in a small sample of Italian children who
Tiziana Zilli were hospitalized for mTBI and systematically reviewed the existing evidence in
(tiziana.zilli@lanostrafamiglia.it)
this setting. In total, 15 children aged 4 – 16 (median, 9) years who were evaluated
Citation: Liguoro I, Zilli T, for mTBI at our institution between March 2017 and September 2018 were
Passone E, et al. Long-term
neurocognitive follow-up in retrospectively enrolled. All patients underwent computed tomography or magnetic
children with traumatic brain injury: resonance imaging for clinical reasons; moreover, they underwent neurocognitive
A literature review and monocentric evaluation within few days from the event (T0), after 3 – 6 months (T1), and after
cohort study. Adv Neurol.
2024;3(4):3886. 18 – 24 months (T2). Neuropsychological assessment included the Child Behavior
doi: 10.36922/an.3886 Checklist, Developmental Neuropsychology Assessment II Edition, and Wechsler
Received: June 6, 2024 Intelligence Scale for Children. An electronic search was conducted to identify
studies published in the past 12 years. Neurocognitive assessments revealed low
Accepted: August 19, 2024 scores in memory, sensorimotor, and social perception tasks at T1 and T2. Univariate
Published Online: October 29, analysis of neuroradiological and clinical findings revealed no risk factors for
2024 cognitive deficits. Overall, 17 studies involving 1336 children were reviewed and
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). analyzed. Following mTBI, psychiatric disorders were frequently newly diagnosed
This is an Open-Access article and were associated with significant deficits in adaptive functioning and other pre-
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution injury psychosocial risk factors. Our study findings demonstrate that children with
License, permitting distribution, mTBI exhibit subtle persistent cognitive difficulties that may affect academic and
and reproduction in any medium, social functioning. Thus, follow-up using extensive neuropsychological evaluation
provided the original work is
properly cited. is essential.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with Keywords: Traumatic brain injury; Pediatrics; Cognition; Magnetic resonance imaging;
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Head computed tomography
affiliations.

Volume 3 Issue 4 (2024) 1 doi: 10.36922/an.3886