Neurological Music Therapy Rebuilds Structural Connectome after Traumatic Brain Injury: Secondary Analysis from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Aleksi J Sihvonen, Sini-Tuuli Siponkoski, Noelia Martínez-Molina, Sari Laitinen, Milla Holma, Mirja Ahlfors, Linda Kuusela, Johanna Pekkola, Sanna Koskinen, Teppo Särkämö, Aleksi J Sihvonen, Sini-Tuuli Siponkoski, Noelia Martínez-Molina, Sari Laitinen, Milla Holma, Mirja Ahlfors, Linda Kuusela, Johanna Pekkola, Sanna Koskinen, Teppo Särkämö

Abstract

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common and devastating neurological condition, associated often with poor functional outcome and deficits in executive function. Due to the neuropathology of TBI, neuroimaging plays a crucial role in its assessment, and while diffusion MRI has been proposed as a sensitive biomarker, longitudinal studies evaluating treatment-related diffusion MRI changes are scarce. Recent evidence suggests that neurological music therapy can improve executive functions in patients with TBI and that these effects are underpinned by neuroplasticity changes in the brain. However, studies evaluating music therapy induced structural connectome changes in patients with TBI are lacking.

Design: Single-blind crossover (AB/BA) randomized controlled trial (NCT01956136).

Objective: Here, we report secondary outcomes of the trial and set out to assess the effect of neurological music therapy on structural white matter connectome changes and their association with improved execute function in patients with TBI.

Methods: Using an AB/BA design, 25 patients with moderate or severe TBI were randomized to receive a 3-month neurological music therapy intervention either during the first (AB, n = 16) or second (BA, n = 9) half of a 6-month follow-up period. Neuropsychological testing and diffusion MRI scans were performed at baseline and at the 3-month and 6-month stage.

Findings: Compared to the control group, the music therapy group increased quantitative anisotropy (QA) in the right dorsal pathways (arcuate fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus) and in the corpus callosum and the right frontal aslant tract, thalamic radiation and corticostriatal tracts. The mean increased QA in this network of results correlated with improved executive function.

Conclusions: This study shows that music therapy can induce structural white matter neuroplasticity in the post-TBI brain that underpins improved executive function.

Keywords: DTI; TBI; connectometry; executive function; music therapy; rehabilitation; structural connectivity; traumatic brain injury.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram outlining the trial.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Music therapy induced structural white matter connectometry changes. Significant connectometry changes showing increased structural white matter connectivity between (A) music therapy and control group (TP2 > TP1) and (B) music therapy and control group (TP3 > TP2). Mean longitudinal QA change correlations (Spearman, two-tailed) to FAB score change are shown with scatter plots. Bar plots for mean QA in the significant connectivity results for both groups are shown: bar = mean, error-bar = standard error of mean, d = Cohen’s d, L = left, QA = quantitative anisotropy, R = Right, TP = time point.

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