Dr. Zhou and his colleagues replicate VIN research findings:

Everyone knows that a severe traumatic brain injury is, well – serious.  But what about a mild or moderate traumatic brain injury?  Dr. Ross and his team have conducted several published studies showing that even after a mild or moderate traumatic brain injury, the brain can continue to atrophy (shrink) for two or more years after the injury.  These findings were recently replicated by Zhou and his colleagues, who found that even after a single concussion or mild traumatic brain injury, there was measurable atrophy one year after the injury.

You would think that it is bad for your brain to shrink.  But is it really bad?  Yes.  Dr. Ross and his research team also found that greater rates of atrophy correlated with worse outcome such as decreased ability to return to work or to return to normal social relationships.

Is there anything good about this research?  Yes!  Dr. Ross explains, “In my clinical experience, when I discuss these types of results with individual patients, they find it vindicating (‘I knew something still was wrong with me.’).  From a research perspective, the silver lining is that the presence of ongoing brain disease so long after the initial injury raises the opportunity for intervening to halt or even reverse the damage.”

References

1.  Zhou, F. M., A. Kierans, D. Kenul, et al.. (2013).  Mild traumatic brain injury: Longitudinal regional brain volume changes. Radiology Jun 267(3):880-90.

2.  Ross, D. E., A. L. Ochs, J. M. Seabaugh, M. F. DeMark, C. R. Shrader, J. H. Marwitz, M. D. Havranek (2012). Progressive brain atrophy in patients with chronic neuropsychiatric symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury: A preliminary study. Brain Injury26(12):1500-9

3.  Ross DE, Ochs AL, Seabaugh J, Henshaw T (2012): NeuroQuant® revealed hippocampal atrophy in a patient with traumatic brain injury. JournalofNeuropsychiatryand Clinical Neurosciences 24(1):E33.

4.  Ross, D. E., C. Castelvecchi, A. L. Ochs (2013). Brain MRI Volumetry in a Single Patient with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. Brain Injury 27(5):634-6.