小脑与脑干通过三对小脑脚（SCP、MCP和ICP）相连，传递本体感觉信息以调节运动、维持平衡和姿势。肿瘤、梗死或创伤性脑损伤等导致的小脑脚损伤会导致协调能力差和平衡问题。目前关于小脑脚损伤及其对平衡控制的影响的数据稀缺，仅限于少数几个个案研究。迄今为止还没有一项研究调查了轻度创伤性脑损伤后具有平衡问题的患者中的小脑脚损伤。因此，我们使用弥散张量成像技术在具有平衡问题的轻度创伤性脑损伤患者中调查了与小脑脚损伤有关的情况。本研究共招募了21名创伤性脑损伤患者和21名正常受试者。使用平衡误差评分系统（BESS）评估平衡。测量了三个与弥散张量成像相关的指标：小脑脚的微分各向异性（FA）、视扩散系数（ADC）和纤维数量（FN）。小脑脚的FN值在患者组中明显低于对照组（p < 0.05）。患者组和对照组之间在MCP的FA、ADC和FN值方面没有显著差异（p > 0.05）。我们使用弥散张量成像技术展示了轻度创伤性脑损伤患者的SCP和ICP的损伤情况。我们的研究结果表明，对于轻度创伤性脑损伤患者，弥散张量成像技术可能是检测小脑脚损伤的有用工具，而这种损伤在常规脑磁共振成像中可能无法检测到。© 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.

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).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.The FN values of the SCP and ICP in the patient group were significantly lower than those in the control group (p < 0.05). No significant differences in the FA, ADC, and FN values of the MCP were observed between the patient and control groups (p > 0.05).Using DTT, we demonstrated injuries to the SCP and ICP in mild TBI patients with balance problems. Our results suggest that DTT could be a useful tool for detecting injuries to the CPs that may not be identified on conventional brain magnetic resonance imaging in mild TBI patients.© 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.