Longitudinal alterations in cerebral perfusion following a season of adolescent contact sport participation compared to non-contact athletes. Neuroimage Clin 2023;40:103538
Date
11/14/2023Pubmed ID
37956583Pubmed Central ID
PMC10666028DOI
10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103538Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85176952519 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cerebral blood flow (CBF) change, a non-invasive marker of head injury, has yet to be thoroughly investigated as a potential consequence of repetitive head impacts (RHI) via contact sport participation in youth athletes. We examined pre-to post-season differences in relative CBF (rCBF), arterial transit time (ATT), and neurocognition between adolescent contact sport (CS; 79.4% of which were football players) and non-contact sport (NCS) athletes.
METHODS: Adolescent athletes (N = 57; age = 14.70 ± 1.97) completed pre- and post-season clinical assessments and neuroimaging. Brain perfusion was evaluated using an advanced 3D pseudo-continuous ASL sequence with Hadamard encoded multiple post-labeling delays. Mixed-effect models tested group-by-time interactions for rCBF, ATT, and neurocognition.
RESULTS: A significant group-by-time interaction was observed for rCBF in a cluster consisting primarily of frontal and parietal lobe regions, with regional rCBF increasing in CS and decreasing among NCS athletes. No significant interaction was observed for ATT. A significant group-by-time interaction was observed for verbal memory and visual motor speed, with NCS athletes improving and CS athletes exhibiting lower performance from pre-to post-season in comparison.
CONCLUSIONS: Alterations in rCBF and variability in cognition, not purported neurovasculature changes (measured by ATT), were observed following one season of CS participation. Further study surrounding the clinical meaningfulness of these findings, as they related to adverse long-term outcomes, is needed.
Author List
Brett BL, Cohen AD, McCrea MA, Wang YAuthors
Benjamin Brett PhD Assistant Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of WisconsinMichael McCrea PhD Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Yang Wang MD Professor in the Radiology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentAthletes
Brain Concussion
Cerebrovascular Circulation
Child
Football
Humans
Perfusion
Seasons
