Hypercarbic Challenge May Show Abnormal Brain Physiology in Concussed Athletes
"I don't want to overstate any of our findings, but they do hint at an underlying physiology there," said Dr. Adam R, Militana, a third-year resident at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Researchers studied seven college athletes (four men, three women, from ages 18-22) in three to six days following sports-related concussions, which were diagnosed by a sports medicine physician. They had no history of prior concussion and only one noted a prior migraine condition.
Using functional MRI with a hypercarbia challenge, the researchers found CVR increased approximately 33 percent across all regions of interest (ROI) in subjects compared with the control patients. The increase is associated with more recent injury, and in one region it is also associated with increased headache symptoms.
"Some regions were more elevated than others, but they increased much more than the controls," Dr. Militana said. "This is unusual in CVR work."
He added that imaging has played a limited role in assessment and treatment of concussions. The findings of the pilot study indicate that increased CVR may be an objective measure that could lead to an increased role for imaging in the future in assessing concussions, especially when it relates to return-to-play symptoms for concussed athletes.
"We hope this measure will help inform clinical decision-making in the future, in particular, return-to-play decisions," Dr. Militana said.
