Functional neuroimaging of concussive and sub-concussive head injuries in high school athletes and a field diagnostic for detecting them
Abstract
Concussions are a common injury in many contact sports, and their prevalence has led many athletes and sports physicians to consider them minor. However, athletes who sustain concussions are at risk for a number of further injuries. These injuries include but are not limited to further concussion due to their present mental impairment, early onset of dementia, sudden death or catastrophic injury due to the condition known as 'second impact syndrome,' and persistent mood disorders. In order to prevent these cumulative effects of concussion, the initial injury must be correctly identified so that the player can be removed from play for rest and observation. Current field tests are not sufficient to reliably detect symptoms of concussion, and thus allow players that should be removed from the game to continue playing and risk further injury. To further complicate this matter, our work shows that, in addition to concussion, subconcussive blows to the head have injurious effects which can be measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). FMRI is a powerful tool for exploring the nature of these injuries, however, fMRI is an expensive technique, and it not appropriate for a field diagnostic. Therefore, this work will present both an exploration of subconcussive injuries using fMRI, as well as a prototype for a new field-appropriate diagnostic tool intended to be sensitive to both classic concussion and these newly discovered subconcussive injuries, and preliminary results on its effectiveness.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Talavage, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Biomedical engineering
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