Visual Structure Biomarkers of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in Contact Sport Athletes Using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) (.pdf)

"It is estimated sports-related concussion afflicts 3.8 million American athletes each year. Recent research suggests that repeated head trauma may be associated with the development of neurodegenerative changes in the brain. These changes in the brain can begin months, years, or even decades after the last brain trauma and are not visible on standard brain scans. As the eye is an extension of the brain, this study investigates the retinal structure in active and retired professional contact sport athletes with a high risk of concussion (football, boxing, hockey, soccer and rugby) compared to age-matched controls to determine if visual structure measures may be an in vivo clinical biomarker to detect nerve damage related to repeated head trauma."