Novel arterial spin labelling (ASL) brain injury symmetry assessment in retired professional athletes: a preliminary study

3D PCASL scans were acquired for seventeen aging, retired professional football players with a history of head traumas. Left, right and bilateral CBF and ASL spatial coefficient of variation (sCoV) values were examined for twelve concussion-related ROIs. A Z-scoring approach was applied, with outliers defined as mild, moderate, or severe injury burden (IB). An IB symmetry index was also calculated. Outliers were detected in all 12 ROIs, and the anterior parahippocampal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis had the highest CBF and ASL sCoV IB, respectively. IB was not biased towards the left or right hemisphere.