- Academic Editor
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Background: The cerebellum is connected to the brain stem by three
pairs of cerebellar peduncles (CPs)—superior (SCP), middle (MCP), and inferior
(ICP)—which carry proprioceptive information to regulate movement and maintain
balance and posture. Injury or damage to the CPs caused by tumors, infarcts, or
traumatic brain injuries (TBI) results in poor coordination and balance problems.
Current data on CP-related injuries and their effect on balance control are
sparse and restricted to a few case studies. There have been no studies to date
that have investigated CP injuries in a large sample of patients with balance
problems following a mild TBI. Hence, we investigated CP-related injuries in
patients with balance problems following mild TBI using diffusion tensor
tractography (DTT). Methods: Twenty-one patients with TBI and 21 normal
subjects were recruited for this study. Balance was evaluated using the Balance
Error Scoring System (BESS). Three DTT-related parameters—fractional anisotropy
(FA), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and fiber number (FN) of the
CPs—were measured. Results: The FN values of the SCP and ICP in the
patient group were significantly lower than those in the control group (p