Adam Mehlenbacher

Primary Theme: Brain & Society

In children, brain injury is complex and common, and currently it is a leading source of injury and death. Sports-related concussions in children and adolescents (5-18 years) account for 30-60% of all pediatric concussions. Though mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is an important public health issue for both the general pediatric population and youth athletes, challenges exist in obtaining objective diagnoses of mTBI or quantifying the physiological implications of cumulative subconcussive (low-level) insults. Establishing a link between the clinical diagnoses and objective diagnostic tools that are sensitive over a spectrum of pathophysiology that includes the minimally sub-concussed child to those that experience many subconcussive events or are clinically diagnosed with a concussion are crucial in developing mitigation strategies.