"Athletes experiencing a concussion during a sports event are evaluated for return to play through clinical evaluation, without the need for imaging studies. We typically don't know with a high level of confidence if there has been any significant brain injury. To determine the degree of brain injury resulting from a concussion, researchers in Canada (Churchill, 2025) studied college athletes in sports where concussions are not unusual (football, basketball, hockey, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, and volleyball)."
"These 25 students were compared with 27 students without a concussion who played the same sports, were of the same sex, and had other similar characteristics. The students all received an MRI of their brains before the beginning of their sports season. For those who had a concussion, an additional MRI was performed one to seven days after their return to play, one to three months after, and one year after the return decision."
"The MRIs were compared to see whether there were any differences between the two groups. There were. Those athletes with a concussion had identifiable abnormalities on their post-concussion MRIs. Those abnormalities included changes in blood flow and tissue changes in the frontal lobe and other parts of the brain. These changes persisted for the entire year after the return. Later MRI studies were not done as part of this research; we don't know how long these changes can last."
College athletes in contact and collision sports underwent baseline brain MRI before a season; 25 who sustained concussions were matched to 27 uninjured controls. Post-concussion MRI scans were obtained one to seven days after return-to-play, again at one to three months, and at one year after the return decision. Control participants were rescanned at the same intervals. Post-concussion MRIs demonstrated identifiable abnormalities not seen in controls, including altered cerebral blood flow and tissue changes in the frontal lobe and other brain regions. Those abnormalities persisted through the one-year follow-up. The duration beyond one year remains unknown.
Read at Psychology Today
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