Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROTRAUMA
Volume 34, Issue 2, Pages 372-+Publisher
MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC
DOI: 10.1089/neu.2016.4446
Keywords
concussion; DTI; naming; National Football League; TBSS; white matter
Funding
- BrainHealth Institute for Athletes at the Center for BrainHealth, a research center at the University of Texas at Dallas
- National Institute on Aging [5K23AG030006]
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Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we assessed the relationship of white matter integrity and performance on the Boston Naming Test (BNT) in a group of retired professional football players and a control group. We examined correlations between fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) with BNT T-scores in an unbiased voxelwise analysis processed with tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). We also analyzed the DTI data by grouping voxels together as white matter tracts and testing each tract's association with BNT T-scores. Significant voxelwise correlations between FA and BNT performance were only seen in the retired football players (p < 0.02). Two tracts had mean FA values that significantly correlated with BNT performance: forceps minor and forceps major. White matter integrity is important for distributed cognitive processes, and disruption correlates with diminished performance in athletes exposed to concussive and subconcussive brain injuries, but not in controls without such exposure.
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