CHICAGO, Nov. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Some
athletes who experience sports-related concussions have reduced
blood flow in parts of their brains even after clinical recovery,
according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the
Radiological Society of North
America (RSNA). The results suggest a role for MRI in
determining when to allow concussed athletes to return to
competition.
Concussions affect millions of people each year and are
especially prevalent in contact sports like football. Sports are
second only to motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of
traumatic brain injury among people between 15 and 24 years old,
according to the National Institutes of Health.
Decisions to clear concussed athletes to return to action are
typically based on symptoms and cognitive and neurological test
results. However, there is increasing evidence that brain
abnormalities persist beyond the point of clinical recovery after
injury.
To find out more, researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee studied concussed football players
with arterial spin labeling, an advanced MRI method that detects
blood flow in the brain.
"This measurement of blood flow is fully noninvasive, without
radiation exposure," said study author Yang
Wang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of radiology at the
Medical College of Wisconsin. "We use
arterial blood water as a contrast tracer to measure blood flow
change, which is highly associated with brain function."
Dr. Wang and colleagues studied 18 concussed players and 19
non-concussed players. They obtained MRI of the concussed players
within 24 hours of the injury and a follow-up MRI eight days after
the injury and compared results with those of the non-concussed
players. Clinical assessments were obtained for both groups at each
time point, as well as at the baseline before the football
season.
The concussed players demonstrated significant impairment on
clinical assessment at 24 hours post-injury, but returned to
baseline levels at eight days. In contrast to clinical
manifestation, the concussed players demonstrated a significant
blood flow decrease at eight days relative to 24 hours post-injury,
while the non-concussed players had no change in cerebral blood
flow between the two time points.
"In eight days, the concussed athletes showed clinical
recovery," Dr. Wang said. "However, MRI showed that even those in
clinical recovery still had neurophysiological abnormalities.
Neurons under such a state of physiologic stress function
abnormally and may become more susceptible to second injury."
While the reasons for reduced cerebral blood flow in concussed
athletes are still under investigation, the findings may have
important implications for decisions on when athletes are ready to
return to play after head injuries, according to the study's
principal investigator, Michael
McCrea, Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery and neurology and
director of brain injury research the Medical
College of Wisconsin.
"For years, we've relied on what athletes are telling us," Dr.
McCrea said. "We need something more objective, and this technology
may provide a greater measurement of recovery."
The Medical College of Wisconsin
scientists are continuing their research as one of the Phase II
winners of the Head Health Challenge, an initiative from the
National Football League and General Electric to develop ways to
speed diagnosis and improve treatment for concussion. Dr. McCrea
and his team are also co-chairing the Concussion Assessment,
Research and Education Consortium (CARE) project, a major national
effort that will enroll more than 30,000 college athletes, making
it the largest study of concussions to date.
"The nature of this research allows us to study the mechanisms
of injury and recovery directly in humans rather than in animal
models," Dr. McCrea said. "Our ultimate aim is to better understand
the time course of neurobiological recovery after concussion."
Other co-authors on the study are Lindsay D. Nelson, Ph.D., Ashley A. LaRoche, Adam
Y. Pfaller, B.S., Andrew S.
Nencka, Ph.D., and Kevin M.
Koch, Ph.D.
Note: Copies of RSNA 2015 news releases and electronic images
will be available online at RSNA.org/press15 beginning
Monday, Nov. 30.
RSNA is an association of more than 54,000 radiologists,
radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists,
promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery
through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society
is based in Oak Brook, Ill.
(RSNA.org)
For patient-friendly information on MRI of the brain, visit
RadiologyInfo.org.
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SOURCE Radiological Society of North
America (RSNA)