White Matter Abnormalities in Retired Professional Rugby League Players with a History of Concussion.

Abstract

The topic of potential long-term neurological consequences from having multiple concussions during a career in collision sports is controversial. We sought to investigate white matter microstructure using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in retired professional Australian National Rugby League (NRL) players (n = 11) with a history of multiple self-reported concussions compared with age- and education-matched controls (n = 13) who have had no history of brain trauma. Diffusion-weighted images were acquired with a Siemens 3T scanner. All participants completed a clinical interview. There were no significant differences between groups on measures of depression, anxiety, stress, or post-concussion..