CSF biomarkers used to assess brain injury in postconcussion syndrome patients

A new study recently published in JAMA Neurology has examined whether persistent symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury are associated with long-term brain injury. Studying 16 professional Swedish hockey players that had prolonged postconcussion symptoms for more than three months, the researchers observed cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers for axonal damage and other aspects of CNS injury and compared the findings with 15 neurologically healthy patients. Lead author Pashtun Shahim and his team (Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden) demonstrated that neurofilament light protein levels were significantly higher in subjects that had postconcussion syndrome, compared with the 15 control individuals. Additionally, subjects that had repeated...