Longitudinal Study of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in (University of Florida) UF Athletes

Overview

To identify the changes in the brain following repeated sports-related concussion in men's football, women's soccer, and women's lacrosse college athletes by reviewing the findings of MRI studies that look at the structure of the brain and the appearance of the white matter at baseline, during the acute phase of a concussive injury, and upon completion of collegiate athletic play and correlate these findings with standard clinical measures.

This proposal seeks to study Diffusion Tensor Imaging and functional MRI of the brain at 1) baseline, 2) after concussion and 3) at the end of an athlete's college career. Findings will be compared to standard clinical measures already performed in the management of concussion at the University of Florida Athletic Association and to serum biomarkers already being obtained as part of a UF/ Banyan Biomarker Study. As in the biomarker study, UF athletes on teams with higher incidences of sports related concussion; men's football, women's soccer, and women's lacrosse will be offered enrollment. Longitudinal examinations will allow identification and quantification of concussive DTI findings as comparisons can be made to the individual athlete's baseline data. This will provide valuable correlation of imaging findings with severity of clinical symptoms at the time of injury and also with timing of return to play.

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes