Citation

Bigler ED. Neurology 2023; 100(5): e555-e557.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1212/WNL.0000000000206835

PMID

36717233

Abstract

By the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) surveillance methods, approximately 1.5 million children each year sustain a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), also referred to as concussion. The numbers are likely even higher because a substantial number of pediatric cases with mild TBI are not seen or evaluated in a medical setting. Until recently, mild TBI was mostly considered a relatively minor condition, especially in the context of sports-related concussion and mild TBIs that occurred in recreational and related activities. However, given mild TBI's high prevalence, it became clear that some children had lingering symptoms and changes that did not resolve over time.1 This inspired the CDC and the NIH to fund large-scale studies to more fully examine brain changes in children who experience a mild TBI. Neuroimaging methods are the most direct way to study the potential effects of a mild TBI. In their study published in this issue, Mayer and coworkers2 used advanced brain imaging methods to show regional changes in brain gray matter that lasted at least 4 months in children who sustained a mild TBI. Gray matter refers to the part of the brain that contains brain cells.

The researchers in this study compared study participants' brain MRI images taken shortly after the participants' injuries and then again at 4 months after injury. As a group, these images showed changes in gray matter size in those with mild TBI but not in healthy, noninjured control participants. Specifically, it showed changes in 2 important brain regions: part of the frontal lobe and an important part of the temporal lobe called the hippocampus. These findings are significant because these regions of the brain are important for a wide range of cognitive (that is, related to thinking), emotional, and physical functions. Changes in these functions relate to the symptoms that are seen after mild TBI...

Language: en