ConclusionThis study found a statistically significant relationship between head impact exposure and change of FA value of whole, core, and terminals of left IFOF and right SLF’s terminals where WM and gray matter intersect, in the absence of a clinically diagnosed concussion.
To examine the effects of subconcussive impacts resulting from a single season of youth (age range, 8–13 years) football on changes in specific white matter (WM) tracts as detected with diffusion-tensor imaging in the absence of clinically diagnosed concussions.
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â– Our study demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between head impact exposure in a single season of youth football and change in fractional anisotropy (FA) value of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus in the absence of clinically diagnosed concussions (R2Â = 0.4334;Â PÂ = .003).
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■Our study demonstrated a significant relationship between head impact exposure and change of FA of the superior longitudinal fasciculus terminals where white matter and gray matter meet (P = .0283,  R2 = 0.2893).
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■This work provides a better understanding of the effects of subconcussive head impacts on the brain of youth football players (age range, 8–13 years).
Read the full story HERE in the Journal of the Radiological Society of North America
