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Abstract #2892

1H MRS Suggests Chronic and Acute Injury in High School Football Players

Victoria N. Poole1, Larry Leverenz2, Eric Nauman, 13, Thomas Talavage, 14, Ulrike Dydak5, 6

1School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States; 2Department of Health and Kinesiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States; 3School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States; 4School of Electrical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States; 5School of Health Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States; 6Department of Radiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States

To assess the consequence of repetitive hits on neural metabolism, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy has been performed in high school American football athletes prior, during, and after their competition season. Our results in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, primary motor cortex, and cerebellum show that these contact sport athletes exhibit significant deviations in season from their pre-season scans that are consistent with glial cell damage and compromised functionality. When the pre-season measures are compared with preliminary data from non-contact athletes serving as controls, the data suggest the contact athletes began the season with incomplete recovery and, quite possibly, have chronic damage.

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Keywords

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