Session Information
Date: Saturday, November 16, 2019
Session Title: Neurological Rehabilitation Case and Research Report
Session Time: 11:15am-12:45pm
Location: Research Hub - Kiosk 5
Disclosures: Donald Kasitinon, MD: Nothing to disclose
Objective: To determine if there are any associations between findings on standard brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with immediate and 3-month outcomes in children who have been diagnosed with a concussion.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Setting: A Multicenter North Texas Concussion Registry (ConTex).
Participants: 93 subjects (ages 6 to 18) enrolled in the registry who underwent brain MRI.
Interventions: Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures: Differences in initial signs and symptoms after concussion between subjects with normal versus abnormal MRIs and differences in 3-month follow-up symptoms, medication use, and therapies between subjects with normal versus abnormal MRIs.
Results: Of the 93 subjects, 50.5% were male, and 49.5% were female. The mean age was 14.1 years. There were 65 normal MRIs and 28 abnormal MRIs (7 with findings likely related to injury such as hemorrhage, fracture, edema, etc.). Sports-related concussion was the most common mechanism of injury (49.5%). Loss of consciousness (LOC) was the only reported immediate post-injury sign or symptom of concussion that displayed a significant difference between those with an abnormal finding on MRI likely related to injury versus those with a normal MRI (P = .03). There were no significant differences between those with abnormal MRIs and those with normal MRIs with regard to 3-month follow-up symptoms, medications, and therapy.
Conclusions: The only immediate sign that was significantly associated with abnormal findings on MRI likely related to injury was LOC. This suggests that a history of LOC may be the best indicator for those who will have abnormal findings on structural MRI. However, lack of significant findings for the remaining immediate outcomes as well as all 3-month outcomes once again puts into question the utility of structural MRI. Despite this uncertainty, further research into the utility of structural MRI may be beneficial because of structural MRI’s accessibility when compared to other currently available objective biomarkers.
Level of Evidence: Level II
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Kasitinon D, Abraham L, Bunt S, Davenport EM, Sabo T, Cullum M, Bell KR. Associations Between Structural Brain MRI Findings and Immediate and 3-Month Outcomes in Children with Concussion [abstract]. PM R. 2019; 11(S2)(suppl 2). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/associations-between-structural-brain-mri-findings-and-immediate-and-3-month-outcomes-in-children-with-concussion/. Accessed May 28, 2025.« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2019
PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/associations-between-structural-brain-mri-findings-and-immediate-and-3-month-outcomes-in-children-with-concussion/