Citation

Borich M, Babul AN, Huang PH, Boyd L, Virji-Babul N. J. Neurotrauma 2014; 32(4): 265-271.

Affiliation

University of British Columbia, Physical Therapy, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ; michael.borich@ubc.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2013.3269

PMID

25010041

Abstract

Sports related concussion in adolescents is a major public health issue; however, little is known about the underlying changes in functional brain connectivity. We evaluated connectivity of resting state brain networks to determine whether alterations in specific networks distinguish adolescents with sports related concussion from a group of healthy, active control adolescents. Twelve adolescents with a clinical diagnosis of subacute concussion and ten healthy adolescents matched for age, gender and physical activity completed functional MRI (fMRI) scanning. Functional connectivity of resting state brain networks was evaluated in both groups using probabilistic independent component analysis (ICA). Altered functional connectivity was found within three resting state networks in adolescents with concussion. Specifically we noted: a) alterations within the default mode network, b) increased connectivity in the right frontal pole in the executive function network and c) increased connectivity in the left frontal operculum cortex associated with the ventral attention network. This preliminary report shows that whole brain functional connectivity is altered in networks related to cognition and attention in adolescents in the subacute phase following sports related concussion. This first report in adolescents should be used to inform future studies in larger cohorts of adolescents with sports-related concussion. Increased knowledge of these changes may lead to improvements in clinical management and help to develop rehabilitation programs.

Language: en