Researchers Find Evidence Brain Changes Can Result From Participation in One Year of Contact

82nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons

The impact of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), TBI, concussion and other head injuries associated with contact sports is a critical area of research within the field of neurosurgery. Today during the 82nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), researchers led by Alexander K. Powers, MD, presented the results of a study to determine the cumulative effects of head impacts as they relate to changes in the brain absent of concussion.

For the study Abnormal white matter integrity related to head impact exposure in a season of high school varsity football, the study looked at 45 players from a local high school football team during the 2012 season, none of whom experienced clinical concussion. Players were instrumented with the Head Impact Telemetry System (HITS). Each player received a pre- and post-season MRI scans, and total impacts and risk weighted cumulative exposure (RWE) were computed from the helmet sensor for each player.

The study researchers concluded that based on the findings, a single season of football play can produce MRI measurable brain changes that have been previously association with mTBI — adding to the increasing amounts of literature demonstrating that a season of participation in a contact sport can show changes in the brain in the absence of concussion or clinical findings.

Reference

1. The above story is reprinted from materials provided by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), via Newswise.
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