ABSTRACT

Introduction

Concern surrounding short- and long-term consequences of participation in contact sports has become a significant public health topic. Previous literature utilizing diffusion tensor imaging in sports-related concussion has exhibited notable variety of analysis methods and analyzed regions of interest, and largely focuses on acute effects of concussion. The current study aimed to compare diffusivity metrics across a single season within athlete cohorts with no history of concussion.

Methods

A prospective cohort of 75 contact and 79 non-contact division I athletes were compared across diffusion tensor imaging metrics (i.e. TRACULA); examinations were also performed assessing the relationship between neuroimaging metrics, head impact exposure metrics (in-helmet accelerometer), and neurocognitive variables. Assessment occurred at pre-and post-season time points.

Results

Seasonal changes in fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity values did not differ between athlete cohorts, nor did they differ within cohort groups, across pre- and post-season scans. Specific to contact athletes, positive associations were found between uncinate fasciculus mean diffusivity values and season linear acceleration (p =.018), season rotational acceleration (p =.017), and season hit severity (p =.021).

Conclusions

Results suggest an influence of impact frequency, type, and severity on white matter integrity in select brain regions in contact athletes. Current findings expand our knowledge of anatomical changes over the course of a single season, and underscore the importance of considering methodology when interpreting findings in this population, as differing image analysis techniques may lead to different conclusions regarding significant effects.

中文翻译：

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在一组非脑震荡和非接触运动员中比较整个赛季的扩散测量。

摘要

介绍

对参与接触性运动的短期和长期后果的担忧已成为一个重要的公共卫生话题。先前在运动相关脑震荡中利用扩散张量成像的文献已经展示了多种分析方法和感兴趣的区域，并且主要关注脑震荡的急性影响。目前的研究旨在比较没有脑震荡史的运动员队列中单个赛季的扩散指标。

方法

对 75 名接触式和 79 名非接触式 I 级运动员的前瞻性队列进行了扩散张量成像指标（即 TRACULA）的比较；还进行了评估神经影像指标、头部撞击暴露指标（头盔内加速度计）和神经认知变量之间的关系的检查。评估发生在季前和季后时间点。

结果

各向异性分数和平均扩散率值的季节性变化在运动员队列之间没有差异，它们在队列组内也没有差异，跨赛季前和赛季后扫描。具体到接触运动员，在钩状束平均扩散率值和季节线性加速度 (p =.018)、季节旋转加速度 (p =.017) 和季节打击严重性 (p =.021) 之间发现正相关。

结论

结果表明，撞击频率、类型和严重程度对接触运动员的特定大脑区域的白质完整性有影响。当前的研究结果扩展了我们对单个季节过程中解剖学变化的了解，并强调了在解释该人群的研究结果时考虑方法论的重要性，因为不同的图像分析技术可能会导致关于显着影响的不同结论。