Uc Science Today

Researchers have discovered a new way to spot brain injuries that arise after a concussion. With advanced, functional MRI scanners, doctors can not only make images of what the brain looks like after the injury, but also how it works. “To get a better handle of being able to say what’s going wrong in the brain after the concussions, we are actually looking at brain function and connectivity in the brain, how different brain regions connect with each other and talk to each other.” Pratik Mukherjee, a professor of radiology at the University of California, San Francisco adds that the new technology allows scientists to see what traditional MRI tests failed to detect. “The typical MRI scan that people get at a hospital or in outpatient clinics are not useful for concussions because they just look at the anatomy of the brain and most people with concussions don’t have big problems anatomically. Few might have tiny little bleeds in the brain, but even that is a minority.”