High school football players show brain changes after one season

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-12/rson-hsf112114.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 1-Dec-2014

Contact: Linda Brooks
Radiological Society of North America
High school football players show brain changes after one season

Some high school football players exhibit measurable brain changes after a single season of play even in the absence of concussion, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

"This study adds to the growing body of evidence that a season of play in a contact sport can affect the brain in the absence of clinical findings," said Christopher T. Whitlow, M.D., Ph.D., M.H.A., associate professor of radiology at Wake Forest School of Medicine and radiologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.

A number of reports have emerged in recent years about the potential effects playing youth sports may have on developing brains. However, most of these studies have looked at brain changes as a result of concussion. Dr. Whitlow and colleagues set out to determine if head impacts acquired over a season of high school football produce white matter changes in the brain in the absence of clinically diagnosed concussion.

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The results showed that both groups demonstrated global increases of FA over time, likely reflecting effects of brain development. However, the heavy-hitter group showed statistically significant areas of decreased FA post-season in specific areas of the brain, including the splenium of the corpus callosum and deep white matter tracts.

"Our study found that players experiencing greater levels of head impacts have more FA loss compared to players with lower impact exposure," Dr. Whitlow said. "Similar brain MRI changes have been previously associated with mild traumatic brain injury. However, it is unclear whether or not these effects will be associated with any negative long-term consequences."

Dr. Whitlow cautions that these findings are preliminary, and more study needs to be done.