The long term and cumulative effects of sport-related concussions from an advanced neuroimaging perspective

Playing sports invariably involves risks of injury, particularly in contact sports. Among the most common injuries are concussions. Their epidemic incidence makes concussions a potent public health issue, especially when they are recurrent in the same athlete. To this end, the excessive accumulation of repeated blows to the head throughout a sporting career has been associated with the early development of a neurodegenerative condition commonly called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is mainly characterized by the combination of diffuse axonal damage, an excessive neuroinflammatory response and the accumulation of tau proteins predominantly in the midbrain. Cutting-edge neuroimaging has provided researchers with exceptional investigation tools to better characterize in vivo alterations in the integrity of the concussed brain throughout the athlete's life. This review will offer a summary of the main findings in this area throughout the ages. (c) 2024 l'Academie nationale de medecine. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.