In most cases, traditional MRI scans of people who sustain a concussion look like normal, healthy brains — something that puzzles the medical profession.

Now a new study co-authored by a Brigham Young University professor shows where there may be a problem. Using a different technique for analyzing MRI scans, the researchers captured images indicating apparent swelling in the networks connecting the two sides of the brain. The finding provides brain researchers with specific direction in their efforts to understand what happens to the estimated 1.4 million people in the United States each year who sustain a brain injury.

The study, which appears in the March 18 issue of the journal Neurology, is co-authored by BYU psychology professor Erin Bigler and colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine. The lead author, Baylor professor Elisabeth Wilde, is a former BYU student who worked in Bigler�s lab.

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