Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
J Neurotrauma. 2021 Oct 15;38(20):2811-2821. doi: 10.1089/neu.2021.0141. Epub 2021 Sep 14.
Sports-related concussion (SRC) can exert serious acute and long-term consequences on brain microstructure, function, and behavioral outcomes. We aimed to quantify the alterations in white matter (WM) microstructure and global network organization, and the decrements in behavioral and cognitive outcomes from pre-season to post-concussion in youth athletes who experienced SRC. We also aimed to evaluate whether wearing a jugular compression neck collar, a device designed to mitigate brain "slosh" injury, would mitigate the pre-season to post-concussion alterations in neuroimaging, behavioral, and cognitive outcomes. A total of 488 high school football and soccer athletes (14-18 years old) were prospectively enrolled and assigned to the non-collar group ( = 237) or the collar group ( = 251). The outcomes of the study were the pre-season to post-concussion neuroimaging, behavioral, and cognitive alterations. Forty-six participants (non-collar: = 24; collar: = 22) were diagnosed with a SRC during the season. Forty of these 46 athletes (non-collar: = 20; collar: = 20) completed neuroimaging assessment. Significant pre-season to post-concussion alterations in WM microstructural integrity and brain network organization were found in these athletes (corrected < 0.05). The alterations were significantly reduced in collar-wearing athletes compared to non-collar-wearing athletes (corrected < 0.05). Concussion and collar main effects were identified for some of the behavioral and cognitive outcomes, but no collar by SRC interaction effects were observed in any outcomes. In summary, oung athletes exhibited significant WM microstructural and network organizational, and cognitive alterations following SRC. The use of the jugular vein compression collar showed promising evidence to reduce these alterations in high school contact sport athletes.
运动相关性脑震荡（SRC）可对大脑微观结构、功能和行为结果造成严重的急性和长期影响。我们旨在量化脑震荡后青少年运动员的白质（WM）微观结构和整体网络组织变化，以及行为和认知结果的下降。我们还旨在评估佩戴颈静脉压迫颈圈（一种旨在减轻脑“晃动”损伤的设备）是否会减轻神经影像学、行为和认知结果的脑震荡前后变化。共有 488 名高中足球和足球运动员（14-18 岁）前瞻性入组并分为非颈圈组（n=237）或颈圈组（n=251）。该研究的结果是脑震荡前后的神经影像学、行为和认知变化。在赛季期间，46 名参与者（非颈圈组：n=24；颈圈组：n=22）被诊断出患有 SRC。其中 40 名运动员（非颈圈组：n=20；颈圈组：n=20）完成了神经影像学评估。这些运动员中发现 WM 微观结构完整性和大脑网络组织有明显的脑震荡前后变化（校正后<0.05）。与非颈圈组相比，佩戴颈圈的运动员的变化明显减少（校正后<0.05）。在一些行为和认知结果中发现了脑震荡和颈圈的主要效应，但在任何结果中都没有观察到颈圈与 SRC 的交互效应。总之，年轻运动员在脑震荡后表现出 WM 微观结构和网络组织以及认知的明显变化。颈静脉压迫颈圈的使用为减少高中接触性运动运动员的这些变化提供了有希望的证据。
