Citation

Virji-Babul N, Hilderman C, Makan N, Liu A, Smith-Forrester J, Franks C, Wang JZ. J. Neurotrauma 2014; 31(23): 1914-1919.

Affiliation

University of British Columbia, Physical Therapy , 212 - 2177 Wesbrook Mall , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T 1Z3 ; nvb31@mail.ubc.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2014.3450

PMID

24956041

Abstract

Sports related concussion is a major public health issue, however little is known about the underlying changes in functional brain networks in adolescents following injury. Our aim was to use the tools from graph theory to evaluate the changes in brain network properties following concussion in adolescent athletes. We recorded resting state electroencephalography (EEG) in thirty-three healthy adolescent athletes and nine adolescent athletes with a clinical diagnosis of sub-acute concussion. Graph theory analysis was applied to these data to evaluate changes in brain networks. Global and local metrics of the structural properties of the graph were calculated for each group, and correlated with ImPACT scores. There were no statistically significant differences in the global metrics between the groups; however, significant differences were found in the local metrics. Specifically in the concussed group we noted: a) increased values of betweenness and degree in frontal electrode sites corresponding to the (R) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the (R) inferior frontal gyrus and b) decreased values of degree in the region corresponding to the (R) frontopolar prefrontal cortex. In addition, there was significant negative correlation between degree and hub value with total symptom score at the electrode site corresponding to the (R) prefrontal cortex. This first preliminary report in adolescent athletes shows that resting state EEG combined with graph theoretical analysis may provide an objective method of evaluating changes in brain networks following concussion. This approach may be useful in identifying individuals at risk for future injury.

Language: en