足球运动员的脑组织存在不同程度萎缩

heathy

Signs of brain shrinkage seen in soccer players

Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:28PM EDT

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - College-age soccer players may show some degree of brain-tissue shrinkage, a small study has found -- adding to evidence that the sport carries a risk of long-term brain injury.

Using high-resolution MRI brain scans, researchers found evidence of reduced gray matter in the brains of 10 male college soccer players, compared with 10 young men who had never played the sport.

Gray matter refers to the brain tissue that controls thinking and memory. The significance of the relatively smaller gray matter volume and density seen in these players is not yet clear, the researchers say.

However, some past studies have found that professional and even college-age soccer players are more likely to show problems with memory and attention than non-players.

Among players in the current study, reduced gray matter was seen in a part of the brain called the anterior temporal cortex -- which is consistent with effects from repeated knocks to the front of the head, John Adams and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio report in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.

Like many other sports, soccer carries some risk of concussion, from players colliding with each other or with the ground, for instance. Multiple concussions over time can cause brain damage.

It's still a matter of debate, though, whether the ordinary knocks involved in \"heading\" the soccer ball raise the risk of brain injury.

Of the 10 soccer players in the current study, only 2 said they'd suffered a mild concussion in the past, while none reported a history of serious head injury. It's impossible to tell exactly why the players showed relatively less gray matter than the comparison group.

\"I'd be very reluctant to ascribe this purely to heading,\" said study co-author Dr. Caleb Adler, an assistant professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

The bottom line, he told Reuters Health, is that while these findings are preliminary, they add to evidence that soccer is \"not an entirely benign sport.\"

\"Any activity is a balance of risk and benefits,\" Adler said.

Some youth soccer leagues ban heading before a certain age, he noted. But further safety measures, including head gear that would lessen the impact of any knock to the head, might be warranted, he said.

More research, Adler said, is needed to flesh out the potential long-term brain injury risks associated with soccer.
足球运动员的脑组织存在不同程度萎缩

2007年7月23日纽约（路透社健康新闻）——一项小样本调查研究发现：处于上大学年龄段的足球运动员存在不同程度的脑组织萎缩，这再次证实了足球运动可对大脑造成远期伤害的说法。

通过运用高分辨率的MRI进行大脑扫描，研究者们发现，与10名从未踢过足球的年轻人相比，另外10名处于上大学年龄段的男性足球运动员的大脑灰质面积有所减少。灰质是大脑中控制思考和记忆的组织。在这些运动员大脑中观察到的相对小的灰质面积和密度所代表的意义尚不清楚，研究者们说。然而，既往的研究表明，与非运动员相比，职业足球运动员和处于大学年龄段的足球运动员更易于出现记忆和注意力集中问题。

在该研究所纳入的运动员中，可观察到颞前叶皮质中的灰质面积减少，这与反复敲打头前部所产生的后果相一致，俄亥俄州辛辛那提大学医学院的John Adams和他的同事在《临床运动医学杂志》上报道说。同其他的许多运动一样，足球运动也有引发脑震荡的风险，比如当运动员之间发生碰撞或运动员与地面发生碰撞时。随时间推移，反复的脑震荡会引起大脑损害。然而，足球中用头顶球是否会引起大脑损害尚存在争议。

在纳入研究的10名足球运动员中，只有2名说他们在以前曾受过轻微的震荡伤，而无一人曾有过严重的头部外伤史。目前尚无法具体解释清楚为何足球运动员较对照组的灰质面积相对减小。“把造成这种情形的原因完全归于头部的撞击似乎有些勉强。”该研究的另一作者Caleb Adler医生说，他是辛辛那提大学医学院的一名精神病学和神经科学的副教授。他告诉路透社记者说，虽然这只是初步的研究结果，但这一结果至少表明足球运动并不是一项完全安全的运动。“每一项运动都是风险与收益的平衡体。” Adler说。一些青少年足球联盟在运动员达到一定年龄前禁止用头顶球，他说。但将来可能会出现一些保护装置，比如可以用来减轻撞击对头部影响的头部装备，他说。Adler说要完全了解足球运动可能对大脑造成的远期伤害尚需进行更多的研究。