title: Cavum Septum Pellucidum in Retired American Pro-Football Players.
abstract: Previous studies report that cavum septum pellucidum (CSP) is frequent among athletes with a history of repeated traumatic brain injury (TBI), such as boxers. Few studies of CSP in athletes, however, have assessed detailed features of the septum pellucidum in a case-control fashion. This is important because prevalence of CSP in the general population varies widely (2% to 85%) between studies. Further, rates of CSP among American pro-football players have not been described previously. We sought to characterize MRI features of the septum pellucidum in a series of retired pro-football players with a history of repeated concussive/subconcussive head traumas compared with controls. We retrospectively assessed retired American pro-football players presenting to our memory clinic with cognitive/behavioral symptoms in whom structural MRI was available with slice thickness ≤2 mm (n=17). Each player was matched to a memory clinic control patient with no history of TBI. Scans were interpreted by raters blinded to clinical information and TBI/football history, who measured CSP grade (0-absent, 1-equivocal, 2-mild, 3-moderate, 4-severe) and length according to a standard protocol. Sixteen of 17 (94%) players had a CSP graded ≥2 compared with 3 of 17 (18%) controls. CSP was significantly higher grade (p<0.001) and longer in players than controls (mean length±standard deviation: 10.6 mm±5.4 vs. 1.1 mm±1.3, p<0.001). Among patients presenting to a memory clinic, long high-grade CSP was more frequent in retired pro-football players compared with patients without a history of TBI.
authors.affiliation: 1 Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.|2 Department of Veterans Affairs, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center , San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Raquel C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Christopher P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brus-Ramer
authors.affiliation: 1 Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Katherine L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Possin
authors.affiliation: 1 Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Brendan I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Cohn-Sheehy
authors.affiliation: 1 Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Joel H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Neurosurgery, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Mitchel S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Veterans Affairs, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center , San Francisco, California.|5 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.|6 Department of Psychiatry, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yaffe
authors.affiliation: 1 Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: 1 Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Gil D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Rabinovici
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005538:Football; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012688:Septum Pellucidum / Q000473:pathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014481:United States
keywords: concussion; magnetic resonance imaging; septum pellucidum; traumatic brain injury