Spinal cord and brain tissue impairments as long-term effects of rugby practice? An exploratory study based on T and ihMTsat measures.

Rugby players are subject to multiple impacts to their head and neck that could have adverse neurological effects and put them at increased risk of neurodegeneration. Previous studies demonstrated altered default mode network and diffusion metrics on brain, as well as more foraminal stenosis, disc protrusion and neck pain among players of contact sports as compared to healthy controls. However, the long-term effects of practice and repetitive impacts on brain and cervical spinal cord (cSC) of the rugby players have never been systematically investigated.

An optimized MP2RAGE sequence for studying both brain and cervical spinal cord in a single acquisition at 3T.

Magnetization Prepared 2 Rapid Acquisition Gradient Echo (MP2RAGE) is a T mapping technique that has been used broadly on brain and recently on cervical spinal cord (cSC). The growing interest for combined investigation of brain and SC in numerous pathologies of the central nervous system such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and traumatic injuries, now brings about the need for optimization with regards to this specific investigation. This implies large spatial coverage with high spatial resolution and short acquisition time, high CNR and low B sensitivity, as well as high reproducibility and robust post-processing tools for T quantification in different regions of brain and SC.