Unlike CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) in American professional football players, the long-term effects of head trauma in elite rugby players are largely unknown. In a pioneering study, a team of researchers at the Imperial College London, London, UK, set out to change that in a study published July 22, 2021, in Brain Communications.

The longitudinal,l observational British study using advanced MRI of 41 male and 3 female players  “…revealed unexpected reductions in white matter volume in the elite rugby players studied. These changes were not related to self-reported head injury history or neuropsychological test scores and might indicate excess neurodegeneration in white matter tracts affected by injury.” Much of the injury studied was sub-acute, as revealed by diffusion tensor imaging.

The study authors, Karl Zimmerman, et al,  concluded: “…our findings suggest an association of participation in elite adult rugby with changes in brain structure.” But more research is needed. “Further well-designed large-scale studies are needed to understand the impact of both repeated sports-related head impacts and head injuries on brain structure, and to clarify whether the abnormalities we have observed are related to an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease and impaired neurocognitive function following elite rugby participation.”

Sources:

Zimmerman, Karl A, Laverse, Etienne, Samra, Ravjeet, Yanez Lopez, Maria, Jolly, Amy E, Bourke, Niall J, Graham, Neil S N, Patel, Maneesh C, Hardy, John, Kemp, Simon, Morris, Huw R, Sharp, David J, “White matter abnormalities in active elite adult rugby players,”
Brain Communications, Volume 3, Issue 3, 2021, fcab133, https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcab133 Accessed August 2, 2021

“MRI finds brain structure changes in elite rugby players”
By Erik L. Ridley, https://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspxsec=sup&sub=mri&pag=dis&ItemID=133025

Accessed August 2, 2021