Concussion Blood Test

A new blood test can detect concussion, sparing the need for radioactive brain scans.

21:23 29 March 2016

Researchers have discovered a biomarker protein released by the brain during injury, which can be detected in a new blood test, eliminating the need for radioactive brain scans.

 

Dr Linda Papa, an emergency medicine physician and lead author of the study, said: “Symptoms of a concussion, or a mild to moderate traumatic brain injury, can be subtle and are often delayed, in many cases by several days,”

 

“This could provide doctors with an important tool for simply and accurately diagnosing those patients, particularly children, and making sure they are treated properly.

 

“If patients are not diagnosed properly and treated appropriately, it could lead to long-term problems. This test could take the guesswork out of making a diagnosis by allowing doctors to simply look for a specific biomarker in the blood.”

 

“Physicians really want to minimise the amount of computerised tomography (CT) scans in patients, especially children, who are a lot more sensitive to radiation and the side effects that can come with it. Fortunately, this simple blood test appears to give us nearly the same information as a CT scan.

 

“This could ultimately change the way we diagnose concussions, not only in children, but in anyone who sustains a head injury.

 

“We have so many diagnostic blood tests for different parts of the body, like the heart, liver and kidneys, but there’s never been a reliable blood test to identify trauma in the brain. We think this test could change that.”