Altered white matter diffusivity and subtle motor function in a pilot cohort of adolescents with sports-related concussion.
Jewel E Crasta, Robert N Tucker, Joshua Robinson and 3 others
PMID 35157539WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with recent concussion showed subtle motor deficits and higher mean diffusivity in the superior corona radiata.
This brain measure correlated with worse motor scores. These findings suggest subtle motor tests may reflect white matter changes, but the small pilot sample cannot confirm this as a diagnostic marker.
Key findings
01Adolescents with concussion had significantly higher mean diffusivity in the superior corona radiata compared to controls.
02Concussed adolescents had significantly worse total PANESS scores (subtle motor deficits) than controls after controlling for age.
03Higher mean diffusivity in the superior corona radiata was associated with poorer motor performance on the PANESS across all participants.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Very small sample size (12 concussed, 13 controls) limits statistical power and generalizability. Longitudinal analysis was performed on only 6 participants, making the follow-up findings preliminary. Groups were not matched for level of sports participation, which could confound white matter differences. The study used a single-shell, low b-value DTI sequence, which is less advanced than current methods. Multiple comparisons were not fully corrected for in the exploratory brain-behavior analyses.
Declared interests
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use these DTI findings to diagnose or manage individual patients. This is a pilot study with a very small sample size and exploratory analysis. The correlation between brain imaging and motor scores is preliminary and has not been validated for clinical use.