Spatial regression analysis of MR diffusion reveals subject-specific white matter changes associated with repetitive head impacts in contact sports

Abstract Repetitive head impacts (RHI) are a growing concern due to their possible neurocognitive effects, with research showing a season of RHI produce white matter (WM) changes seen on neuroimaging. We conducted a secondary analysis of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data for 28 contact athletes to...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Patrick D. Asselin, Yu Gu, Kian Merchant-Borna, Beau Abar, David W. Wright, Xing Qiu, Jeff J. Bazarian
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/5dcc926abc264bdeaeb9df561d7de6a8
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract Repetitive head impacts (RHI) are a growing concern due to their possible neurocognitive effects, with research showing a season of RHI produce white matter (WM) changes seen on neuroimaging. We conducted a secondary analysis of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data for 28 contact athletes to compare WM changes. We collected pre-season and post-season DTI scans for each subject, approximately 3 months apart. We collected helmet data for the athletes, which we correlated with DTI data. We adapted the SPatial REgression Analysis of DTI (SPREAD) algorithm to conduct subject-specific longitudinal DTI analysis, and developed global inferential tools using functional norms and a novel robust p value combination test. At the individual level, most detected injured regions (93.3%) were associated with decreased FA values. Using meta-analysis techniques to combine injured regions across subjects, we found the combined injured region at the group level occupied the entire WM skeleton, suggesting the WM damage location is subject-specific. Several subject-specific functional summaries of SPREAD-detected WM change, e.g., the $${L}^{\infty }$$ L ∞ norm, significantly correlated with helmet impact measures, e.g. cumulative unweighted rotational acceleration (adjusted p = 0.0049), time between hits rotational acceleration (adjusted p value 0.0101), and time until DTI rotational acceleration (adjusted p = 0.0084), suggesting RHIs lead to WM changes.