White Matter Changes and Confrontation Naming in Retired Aging National Football League Athletes.
Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we assessed the relationship of white matter integrity and performance on the Boston Naming Test (BNT) in a group of retired professional football players and a control group. We examined correlations between fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) with BNT T-scores in an unbiased voxelwise analysis processed with tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). We also analyzed the DTI data by grouping voxels together as white matter tracts and testing each tract's association with BNT T-scores. Significant voxelwise correlations between FA and BNT performance were only seen in the retired football players (p < 0.02). Two tracts had mean FA values that significantly correlated with BNT performance: forceps minor and forceps major. White matter integrity is important for distributed cognitive processes, and disruption correlates with diminished performance in athletes exposed to concussive and subconcussive brain injuries, but not in controls without such exposure.
1 Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine , St. Louis, Missouri.
Jeremy F
JF
Strain
2 Center for BrainHealth®, The University of Texas at Dallas , School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dallas, Texas.|3 Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics and Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center , Dallas, Texas.
Nyaz
N
Didehbani
2 Center for BrainHealth®, The University of Texas at Dallas , School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dallas, Texas.
Jeffrey
J
Spence
2 Center for BrainHealth®, The University of Texas at Dallas , School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dallas, Texas.
Heather
H
Conover
2 Center for BrainHealth®, The University of Texas at Dallas , School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dallas, Texas.
Elizabeth K
EK
Bartz
2 Center for BrainHealth®, The University of Texas at Dallas , School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dallas, Texas.
Sethesh
S
Mansinghani
3 Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics and Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center , Dallas, Texas.
Myrtle K
MK
Jeroudi
2 Center for BrainHealth®, The University of Texas at Dallas , School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dallas, Texas.
Neena K
NK
Rao
2 Center for BrainHealth®, The University of Texas at Dallas , School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dallas, Texas.
Lindy M
LM
Fields
2 Center for BrainHealth®, The University of Texas at Dallas , School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dallas, Texas.|4 Department of Radiology, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine , Baltimore, Maryland.
Michael A
MA
Kraut
3 Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics and Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center , Dallas, Texas.
C Munro
CM
Cullum
2 Center for BrainHealth®, The University of Texas at Dallas , School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dallas, Texas.|3 Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics and Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center , Dallas, Texas.
John
J
Hart
3 Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics and Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center , Dallas, Texas.
Kyle B
KB
Womack
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D016880:Anisotropy; D056352:Athletes / Q000523:psychology; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000523:psychology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000639:trends; D005538:Football / Q000293:injuries*; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012179:Retirement / Q000639:trends*; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
DTI; National Football League; TBSS; concussion; naming; white matter