Imperial College London
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Dr Karl (Gus) Zimmerman

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences

Research Associate
 
 
 
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Contact

 

karl.zimmerman11 Website

 
 
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Location

 

Sir Michael Uren HubWhite City Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Zimmerman:2021:braincomms/fcab133,
author = {Zimmerman, K and Laverse, E and Samra, R and Yanez, Lopez M and Jolly, AE and Bourke, NJ and Graham, N and Patel, MC and Hardy, J and Kemp, S and Morris, HR and Sharp, D},
doi = {braincomms/fcab133},
journal = {Brain Communications},
pages = {1--19},
title = {White matter abnormalities in active elite adult rugby players},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcab133},
volume = {3},
year = {2021}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The recognition, diagnosis and management of mild traumatic brain injuries is difficult and confusing.  It is unclear how the severity and number of injuries sustained relate to brain injuries such as diffuse axonal injury, diffuse vascular injury and progressive neurodegeneration. Advances in neuroimaging techniques enable the investigation of neuropathologies associated with acute and long-term effects of injury. Head injuries are the most commonly reported injury seen during professional rugby. There is increased vigilance for the immediate effects of these injuries in matches, but there has been surprisingly little research investigating the longer-term effects of rugby participation.Here we present a longitudinal observational study investigating the relationship of exposure to rugby participation and sub-acute head injuries in professional adult male and female rugby union and league players using advanced MRI. Diffusion tensor imaging and susceptibility weighted imaging was used to assess white matter structure and evidence of axonal and diffuse vascular injury.  We also studied changes in brain structure over time using Jacobian Determinant statistics extracted from serial volumetric imaging. We tested 41 male and 3 female adult elite rugby players, of whom 21 attended study visits after a head injury, alongside 32 non-sporting controls, 15 non-collision-sport athletic controls and 16 longitudinally assessed controls. 18 rugby players participated in the longitudinal arm of the study, with a second visit at least 6 months after their first scan.Neuroimaging evidence of either axonal injury or diffuse vascular injury was present in 23% (10/44) of players. In the non-acutely injured group of rugby players, abnormalities of fractional anisotropy and other diffusion measures were seen. In contrast, non-collision-sport athletic controls were not classified as showing abnormalities. A group level contrast also showed evidence of sub-acute injury using diffusion te
AU  - Zimmerman,K
AU  - Laverse,E
AU  - Samra,R
AU  - Yanez,Lopez M
AU  - Jolly,AE
AU  - Bourke,NJ
AU  - Graham,N
AU  - Patel,MC
AU  - Hardy,J
AU  - Kemp,S
AU  - Morris,HR
AU  - Sharp,D
DO  - braincomms/fcab133
EP  - 19
PY  - 2021///
SN  - 2632-1297
SP  - 1
TI  - White matter abnormalities in active elite adult rugby players
T2  - Brain Communications
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcab133
UR  - https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/article/3/3/fcab133/6324940
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/89870
VL  - 3
ER  -
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