Dunn, Jeffrey FrankBarlow, Karen MariaUrban, Karolina2015-01-082015-02-232015-01-082014Urban, K. (2015). Measuring Brain Connectivity and Hemodynamic Alterations Following Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the Primary Motor Cortex (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26855http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1991Concussion, or mild traumatic brain injury, is a growing concern especially among the pediatric population. Symptoms may persist beyond one month after injury and result in long term disability called Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS). There is a lack of measures to quantitatively monitor and explore pathophysiological mechanisms of PCS. We hypothesized that since fiber tracts are often impacted in concussion, functional activation and inter-hemispheric brain communication may be impaired. We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to quantify the magnitude of activation and inter-hemispheric communication between motor cortices using a coherence analysis. Subjects completed a resting state and tapping paradigm. We detected differences between patients and controls in coherence, suggesting alterations in inter-hemispheric communication. Given the critical need for a quantitative biomarker for recovery following a concussion, we present this data to highlight the potential of fNIRS, coupled with coherence analysis, as a sensitive measure to detect functional changes.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.NeuroscienceConcussionmild traumatic brain injuryfunctional near infrared spectroscopyoptical imagingfunctional connectivityCoherencemaster thesishttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/26855