CORPUS-CALLOSUM MORPHOLOGY IN NORMAL CONTROLS AND TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY - SEX-DIFFERENCES, MECHANISMS OF INJURY, AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES

This study examined the relative cross-sectional area of the corpus ca llosum (CC) from MRI scans of 166 normal controls and 97 patients who have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI). The issue of sex differenc es in the normal CC is addressed with regard to methodological limitat ions of many previous conflicting reports. Women had larger CC relativ e to cranial Volume than did men, and this appears to be more than sim ply an artifact of larger heads in men. The TBI sample showed selectiv e atrophy most notable in the genu and isthmus of the CC, which may re flect cortical degeneration ir om common sites of injury or Wallerian degeneration secondary to diffuse axonal injury al sites other than th e CC itself. The splenium of the CC was significantly related to funct ioning on the Digit Symbol task for the female TBI patients. The obser ved differences between gender on CC morphology and function may refle ct global differences in brain organization.