Citation

Henry LC, Tremblay J, Tremblay S, Lepore N, Théoret H, Ellemberg D, Lassonde M. J. Neurotrauma 2011; 28(10): 2049-2059.

Affiliation

University of Montreal, Psychology, 90 Avenue Vincent D'indy, F478, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, h2v 2s9; luke.henry@umontreal.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2011.1836

PMID

21864134

Abstract

Despite negative neuroimaging findings in concussed athletes, studies indicate that the acceleration and deceleration of the brain after concussive impacts result in metabolic and electrophysiological alterations that may be attributable to changes in white matter resulting from biomechanical strain. The present study investigated the effects of sports concussion on white matter using three different Diffusion Tensor Imaging measures (FA, AD, and MD) by comparing a group of 10 non-concussed athletes with a group of 18 concussed athletes of the same age (mean: 22.5 years) and education (mean: 16 years) using a voxel-based approach (VBA) within both the acute and chronic post-injury phases. All concussed athletes were scanned 1-6 days post-concussion and again 6-months later in a 3T Siemens TRIO MRI. Three 2x2-repeated measure ANOVAs were conducted, one for each measure of DTI used in the current study. There was a main group effect of FA which was increased in dorsal regions of both cortical spinal tracts (CST) and in the corpus callosum in concussed athletes at both time points. There was a main group effect of AD in the right CST where concussed athletes showed elevated values relative to controls at both time points. MD values were decreased in concussed athletes where analyses revealed significant group differences in the CST and corpus callosum at both time points. Although the use of VBA does limit the analyses to large tracts and has clinical limitations with regard to individual analyses, our results nevertheless indicate that sports concussions do result in changes in diffusivity in the corpus callosum and CST of concussed athletes that are not detected using conventional neuroimaging techniques.

Language: en