• Karen Misquitta, Mahsa Dadar, Apameh Tarazi, Mohammed W Hussain, Mohammed K Alatwi, Ahmed Ebraheem, Namita Multani, Mozhgan Khodadadi, Ruma Goswami, Richard Wennberg, Charles Tator, Robin Green, Brenda Colella, Karen Deborah Davis, David Mikulis, Mark Grinberg, Christine Sato, Ekaterina Rogaeva, Louis Collins D D McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, 3801 Rue Universite, Montreal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada., and Maria Carmela Tartaglia.
• Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Krembil Discovery Tower, 60 Leonard Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 0S8, Canada; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada.
• Neuroimage Clin. 2018 Jan 1; 19: 551-558.

AbstractMultiple concussions, particularly in contact sports, have been associated with cognitive deficits, psychiatric impairment and neurodegenerative diseases like chronic traumatic encephalopathy. We used volumetric and deformation-based morphometric analyses to test the hypothesis that repeated concussions may be associated with smaller regional brain volumes, poorer cognitive performance and behavioural symptoms among former professional football players compared to healthy controls. This study included fifty-three retired Canadian Football League players, 25 age- and education-matched healthy controls, and controls from the Cambridge Centre for Aging and Neuroscience database for validation. Volumetric analyses revealed greater hippocampal atrophy than expected for age in former athletes with multiple concussions than controls and smaller left hippocampal volume was associated with poorer verbal memory performance in the former athletes. Deformation-based morphometry confirmed smaller bilateral hippocampal volume that was associated with poorer verbal memory performance in athletes. Repeated concussions may lead to greater regional atrophy than expected for age.

29 keywords...

hide…