High-resolution brain scans combined with advanced computer capabilities could detect concussions that conventional scans miss.

Researchers at Canada's Simon Fraser University showed that magnetoencephalography (MEG), which maps interactions between regions of the brain, could detect more neural changes than typical clinical imaging tools such as MRI or CT scans.

Medical experts usually use MRIs and CT scans along with a patient's self-reported symptoms, such as headache and fatigue, to diagnose concussion. But mild traumatic brain injuries, such as those often associated with playing football, can't been seen on conventional scans.

"Changes in communication between brain areas, as detected by MEG, allowed us to detect concussion from individual scans, in situations where MRI or CT failed," says researcher Vasily Vakorin.

Vakorin and fellow researcher Sam Doesburg took MEG scans of 41 men between 20-44 years of age. Half had been diagnosed with concussions within the past three months.

They found players with concussions showed changes in how different areas of the brain communicated with each other.

The researchers say MEG offers an unprecedented combination of "excellent temporal and spatial resolution" for reading brain activity to better diagnose concussion where other methods fail.

The researchers also noted that the new method may also provide important measurements of changes in the brain during recovery from concussions.

Their study was published in PLOS Computational Biology.

The study comes at a time when doctors are debating if high school football should be banned because of concussion risks. A new study from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas found that MRIs detected brain changes in high school football players after only one season.

MRI scans found changes in both gray and white matter that correlated with head impacts, even though none of the players studied had been diagnosed with a concussion.