Concussion Injury to Brain Long Lasting

Six months after experiencing a concussion, young athletes still had changes in the white matter of their brains according to a study at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, according to the press release from the American Academy of Neurology.

The researchers found that high school and college age athletes who experienced a concussion showed decreased mean diffusivity, which is a marker of white matter changes, on diffusion tensor imaging at six months. The subjects were matched with healthy control subjects.

As Fiore reported, the researchers conducted diffusion tensor imaging and diffusion kurtosis imaging on 17 high school and college football players, with a mean age of 17.4 years, who had had a concussion. They then compared the scans with those from a matched control group who had not had concussions. They also assessed concussion symptoms, balance, and cognition at three time points: 24 hours after concussion, 8 days later, and 6 months later.

Although researchers saw no differences between the two groups in terms of self-reported concussion symptoms, there was widespread decreased mean diffusivity in those with a concussion compared with the controls—which was similar to the acute findings at 24 hours and 8 days.

Those with more severe symptoms at the time of concussion were more likely to have alterations in white matter six months later, according to Melissa Lancaster, Ph.D., who directed the study: “Athletes may still experience long-term brain changes even after they feel they have recovered from the injury.” She said that the hunt is still on for biomarkers that could help determine recovery, as well as for better diagnoses of concussion.