CFIN researcher Erhard Trillingsgaard Næss-Schmidt is defending his PhD thesis on Microstructural changes in the middle brain and post-concussion symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury.

11.11.2016 | Henriette Blæsild Vuust

Erhard trillingsgaard Næss-Schmidt

Title: Microstructural changes in the middle brain and post-concussion symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury - a diffusion MRI study

About the thesis:

Approximately 25,000 people receive a concussion in Denmark each year. Of these people, up to 22% experience persistent symptoms due to the concussion. For this reason it is important to understand the processes that underlie these symptoms. The correlation between the degree of physical impact to the brain and symptoms experienced due to this impact is still unclear.

This recently completed PhD project, used a standardized way and a newly developed MRI scan method to investigate the middle part of the brain, and showed microstructural changes immediately after concussion. No obvious microstructural changes or strong associations between changes in the middle part of the brain with persistent symptoms were observed 2-5 months after the concussion. These results demonstrate the complexity of concussion which may require an expanded scope incorporating physical, psychological and social factors examined in connection with the persistent symptoms.

The project involves 72 subjects with concussion of which 27 were examined within 14 days and all subjects 2-5 months after the concussion. Twenty-seven healthy subjects without concussion were also assessed. 

Assessment committee/ opponents:

• Professor, consultant, dr.med., ph.d. Jens Christian Hedemann Sørensen - chairman of the committee and moderator of the defence, Neurokirurgisk afdeling NK, NBG Nørrebrogade 44 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
• Senior professor/senior consultant, MD, PhD, Docent Stig Karl Jörgen Borg, Department of Clinical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet and Department of Rehabilitation Medicine Danderyd University Hospital, Stockholm , 18288 Sweden, Sweden
• Associate professor/Consultant, dr.med. Egill Rostrup, Functional Imaging Unit, Dept of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear medicine, Rigshospitalet - Glostrup, Ndr. Ringvej 57, 2600 Glostrup, Denmark

Main supervisor

• Professor, overlæge, dr.med. Jørgen Feldbæk Nielsen, Regionshospitalet Hammel Neurocenter – Universitetsklinik for Neurorehabilitering, Hammel, Danmark

Additional supervisors

• Leif Østergaard, Professor, MD, CFIN
• Jakob Udby Blicher, PhD, MD, CFIN 
• Simon Fristed Eskildsen, PhD, CFIN

Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University Hospital, Health, Aarhus, Danmark

The defense is public and takes place on November 18th at 13:00 in The Multicenter Hall at Regionshospitalet Hammel Neurocenter, Voldbyvej 15, 8450 Hammel, Aarhus University.

The defense will be in Danish.

ALL ARE WELCOME