Neurosurgery creates new online collection of recent papers on sports concussions

The last few years have seen increasing concern over the effects of concussions and head trauma in sports—including the risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) occurring in athletes. The editors of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, have created a new online collection of important recent research papers on concussions and head injury in sports. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

The new collection is now available, and can be viewed by clicking on the "Collections" tab on the journal website. "We've seen a large number of website visitors looking for articles relevant to concussions in athletes in CTE," comments Nelson M. Oyesiku, M.D., Ph.D., Editor of Neurosurgery. "Our new collection on concussion in sports will make it easier to locate and access key evidence on this emerging and critically important issue."

Science behind the News on Health Concussion in Sports

The interest in sports-related head trauma reflects growing evidence that repeated concussions can have long-term health effects in athletes. Recent scientific reports have described CTE—a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head trauma, seen especially in high-level competitive athletes. Patients with CTE develop mood disorders, cognitive dysfunction, and other psychiatric symptoms, typically occurring years after a history of repeated concussions.

The new collection assembles some of the most important research papers on concussions and head trauma in sports, drawn from the pages of Neurosurgery. The articles in the collection include the 2005 paper that was the first to describe CTE in a retired National Football League (NFL) player.

Subsequent papers strengthen the association between recurrent concussion and long-term "dementia-related syndromes" in professional football players and other athletes. The most recent additions are a pair of studies from 2011 describing emerging subtypes of CTE and the possible relationship between anabolic steroids and head injury. Other articles address the outcomes of concussions in young athletes—including important evidence guiding return to play after a head injury.

Goodell to Speak to Neurosurgeons on Concussions in the NFL

Amid the growing concern about concussion in sports, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons recently announced that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will speak at the Congress' Annual Meeting, to be held October 1 to 6, 2011, in Washington, D.C. Mr. Goodell will address neurosurgeons about the NFL's ongoing efforts to decrease the incidence and enhance the management of concussion in football.

The collection on concussion in sports is the latest in a series of collections on topics of special interest posted on the Neurosurgery website. All visitors can view the topic collections, along with abstracts of the articles included. Members of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and all individual subscribers have full online access to every article published in Neurosurgery.

New papers relevant to concussion in sports and CTE will be added to the collection as they are published. The editors and publisher of Neurosurgery hope that assembling these important articles for easy access and reference will promote an accurate scientific understanding of the problem, and lead to progress in clarifying and preventing long-term health issues related to sports-related head trauma.