# 3D Texture Analysis of the Corpus Callosum in T1-Weighted MR Images of Children with a Traumatic Brain Injury

## TL;DR

This study uses 3D texture analysis of MRI images to detect subtle brain changes in children with traumatic brain injuries, which may not be visible through standard methods.

## Contribution

The study introduces 3D texture analysis of the corpus callosum in T1-weighted MR images to detect white matter changes in pediatric TBI.

## Key findings

- TBI children showed significantly higher textural skewness in the body of the corpus callosum compared to controls.
- Significant differences in texture metrics were observed in the genu of the corpus callosum in TBI children.
- Texture analysis detected changes not visible in standard FA or ADC metrics.

## Abstract

Investigating traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in the developing brain is a challenging task. The superposition of an injury to the normal development trajectory can lead to brain impairments which are not obvious at diagnosis. T1-weighted MRI, acquired routinely post-injury, has the potential to better inform diagnosis, but is limited by qualitative assessment by radiologists. Using T1-weighted volume images, we investigated the use of three-dimensional texture analysis (TA) on regions of the corpus callosum (CC) in children with TBI and typically developing controls (TDCs) in conjunction with analysis of diffusion weighted image (DWI)-derived metrics. Nineteen TDCs and 37 participants with TBI were included in the study. T1 textural metrics were extracted from the splenium, genu and body of the CC and assessed for differences between the groups. Textural skewness was found to be significantly higher in children with TBI than TDCs in the body of the CC (t-test: p < 0.004, effect size: g = 0.91) and significant differences were observed in the genu of the CC (grey level co-occurrence matrix and Grey-level run length matrix, p < 0.004, effect sizes > 0.6). Non-significant reductions in ADC were found between TBI and TDC groups in the body and the splenium of the CC. Interestingly, no differences were found between TDCs and the TBI sample using FA. The results suggest that TA can potentially be used to assess white matter integrity after paediatric TBI.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10548-026-01188-5.