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Acute and subacute changes in neural activation during the recovery from sport-related concussion. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2013 Sep;19(8):863-72

Date

07/09/2013

Pubmed ID

23829951

DOI

10.1017/S1355617713000702

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-84883443447 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   49 Citations

Abstract

To study the natural recovery from sports concussion, 12 concussed high school football athletes and 12 matched uninjured teammates were evaluated with symptom rating scales, tests of postural balance and cognition, and an event-related fMRI study during performance of a load-dependent working memory task at 13 h and 7 weeks following injury. Injured athletes showed the expected postconcussive symptoms and cognitive decline with decreased reaction time (RT) and increased RT variability on a working memory task during the acute period and an apparent full recovery 7 weeks later. Brain activation patterns showed decreased activation of right hemisphere attentional networks in injured athletes relative to controls during the acute period with a reversed pattern of activation (injured > controls) in the same networks at 7 weeks following injury. These changes coincided with a decrease in self-reported postconcussive symptoms and improved cognitive test performance in the injured athletes. Results from this exploratory study suggest that decreased activation of right hemisphere attentional networks mediate the cognitive changes and postconcussion symptoms observed during the acute period following concussion. Conversely, improvement in cognitive functioning and postconcussive symptoms during the subacute period may be mediated by compensatory increases in activation of this same attentional network.

Author List

Hammeke TA, McCrea M, Coats SM, Verber MD, Durgerian S, Flora K, Olsen GS, Leo PD, Gennarelli TA, Rao SM

Author

Michael McCrea PhD Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Athletic Injuries
Brain
Brain Mapping
Case-Control Studies
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
Oxygen
Post-Concussion Syndrome
Recovery of Function
Retrospective Studies
Severity of Illness Index