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2025
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Ashwin - Thesis (includes cover page) 2025 Ju_anonymous.pdf
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Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can lead to a wide range of subtle but functionally significant visual impairments, which are often underdiagnosed due to the lack of sensitive and objective clinical measures. This dissertation investigates the impact of mTBI on retinal structure, visual field sensitivity, electrophysiological responses, and pupillary dynamics using a multimodal approach. In Chapter 1, structure-function relationships are examined via correlations between retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and central visual field sensitivity. Chapter 2 assesses retinal and cortical response gain using the photopic negative response (PhNR) and visual evoked potentials (VEPs), revealing heightened excitability of the visual system in mTBI patients. Chapter 3 explores dynamic and sustained pupillary responses, uncovering prolonged photic sensitivity and altered neural adaptation mechanisms. Across modalities, the findings suggest that mTBI induces both structural and functional disruptions in the visual system that may serve as biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis. These results underscore the need for refined clinical tools to detect and monitor vision-related outcomes in mTBI, informing the design of more targeted rehabilitation strategies.