Advanced neuroimaging tech is being used to investigate why some children recover from head injuries more easily than others.
The first participants have been recruited to a study investigating the impact of head injuries on 11 to 18-year-olds.
The latest neuroimaging techniques will be used to explore why some children have worse outcomes than others after sustaining a head injury, for example while playing sport.
Researchers at The Podium Institute for Sports Medicine and Technology, at Oxford University, will harness advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to address a lack of data in this area.
While many children may show a seemingly normal computerised tomography (CT) scan after a head injury, they can still experience lasting prolonged symptoms.
This, says researchers, highlights the fact that important aspects of brain injury may be missed on standard imaging.
Using advanced MRI techniques, the new study will explore various aspects of brain damage, including injury to nerve fibres, disruptions in brain metabolism, and changes in functional connectivity between brain regions.
These neuroimaging measures will be combined with cognitive testing along with self- and parent-reported information on head injuries. The aim is to identify key MRI biomarkers that can reliably predict both clinical recovery and sports-related outcomes, such as time to return to sport.
Mr Tim Lawrence, of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Oxford University, says: “With growing concern regarding a potential link between mild or repetitive traumatic brain injury and long-term cognitive difficulties or even early dementia, there is a pressing need to identify the types of traumatic injuries that may pose a risk.
“Our study is a step towards better understanding of the mechanisms that underpin damage to the brains of children and adolescents suffering injury.”
Approximately 30–50 per cent of reported head injuries occur in young people, and these injuries are linked to an increased risk of conditions including neurodegenerative disease.
But conventional assessment methods have proven inadequate for accurately diagnosing and analysing brain injuries.
To date, a limited number of studies using advanced MRI have begun to reveal why some individuals experience more severe symptoms or slower recovery, even when standard brain scans show minimal injury.
However, questions remain unanswered, highlighting the urgent need for further research to deepen our understanding of the evolution of TBI over time and its long-term impact on young brains.
Professor Constantin Coussios, director of the Podium Institute and Director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, says: “Given the focus of the Podium Institute on the youth, community and female sports, we are proud that our first clinical study addresses a key unmet need in the diagnosis and evaluation of head injuries in children and young persons. We hope to uncover clinically relevant imaging markers that will turn a difficult-to-see condition into one that can be diagnosed more confidently, and to help clinicians, parents and coaches predict how well a child will recover after a head injury.”
Over the next 2.5 years, the study hopes to scan a total of 60 patients and 60 controls who are 11- to 18-years of age and regularly take part in sports. This will include young people with both recent and past injuries.
