A prospective controlled study of cognitive function during an amateur boxing tournament

Abstract

With the exception of boxers whose contest is stopped by the referee, amateur boxers participating in multiple bouts during a 7-day tournament display no evidence of cognitive dysfunction in the immediate postbout period.

Prevalence of Cerebral Microhemorrhages in Amateur Boxers as Detected by 3T MR Imaging

“…Repetitive exposure to head blows in contact sports, such as boxing and soccer, are supposed to result in chronic traumatic encephalopathy with the consequence of dementia pugilistica. [2][3][4][5][6] Pathoanatomic data of boxers mainly result from collections of case reports and from small histopathologic studies. [2][3][4][5][6] Although there are many more or less sensational reports of epidural, subdural, intraparenchymal, and subarachnoid hemorrhages in boxers, to our knowledge no systematic neuroanatomic studies have been conducted, let alone case-control studies.…”

“…[2][3][4][5][6] Pathoanatomic data of boxers mainly result from collections of case reports and from small histopathologic studies. [2][3][4][5][6] Although there are many more or less sensational reports of epidural, subdural, intraparenchymal, and subarachnoid hemorrhages in boxers, to our knowledge no systematic neuroanatomic studies have been conducted, let alone case-control studies. Nevertheless, according to the review by Unterharnscheidt, 2 clinical and morphologic publications show convincingly that participation in boxing leads to severe permanent brain damage.…”

“…The most important brain abnormalities that have been suggested to be associated with boxing are cerebral and cerebellar atrophy, nonspecific white matter changes such as gliosis, and fenestrations of the cavum of the septum pellucidum. [2][3][4][5][6] Until now, however, the few existing systematic morphologic studies on boxers have failed to show significant correlations between boxing and putative abnormalities by neuroimaging. 5 The violence of a blow to the head in boxing is related to the velocity of the fist and the masses involved.…”

“…An additional increase in the sensitivity for detecting hemorrhagic shear injuries can be achieved using higher MR field strengths, such as 3T. 1 Because the evidence concerning traumatic brain injury in amateur boxers is controversial, [2][3][4][5][6] the aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of cerebral microhemorrhages in boxers as compared with nonboxers by using 3T MR imaging. Our working hypothesis was that MR imaging would show a higher prevalence of cerebral microhemorrhages in amateur boxers than in nonboxers.…”

Review of sports-related concussion: Potential for application in military settings

“…These tests have identified acutely a range of postconcussion cognitive deficits, such as reduced ability to plan and switch mental set [40], deficient memory and learning [31,41], reduced attention, slowed information processing [42], and prolonged and more variable visual-motor speed [43][44][45]. Impaired visuospatial-constructional ability, language, and sensorimotor function have also been reported [28,32].…”