Head injuries have been a hot topic in recent years. Concussions and head traumas have been placed center-stage by doctors, sport trainers and even Hollywood directors who feel the topic hasn’t been given enough attention despite significantly affecting individuals–short and long term– who have suffered head traumas.
On Monday a new study has given hope for a more feasible and accurate measure to diagnose concussions and head traumas– a simple blood test will one day be able to determine whether or not an individual has sustained a concussion.
The study is based off the findings of a specific protein–linked with head trauma–being present in blood samples up to a week after a head injury occurs.
New blood test can detect concussion, sparing the need for radioactive scans https://t.co/REO25VB79L http://pic.twitter.com/3avMaWa8Me
— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) March 28, 2016
According to Time, the preliminary tests were conducted by doctors at a Florida hospital on patients that had recently suffered a head trauma. The tests–which are focused on two proteins and/or on other “biomarkers”– is said to be a few years away from routine use but have been said to be “a substantial step” in developing a more universal and convenient test that can diagnose head traumas in an array of situations.
Dr. Linda Papa, an Orlando Health emergency medicine specialist, along with her colleagues tested around 600 adult patients that came in for treatment for their head traumas at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Half of those individuals suffered concussions from an array of incidents that included car crashes, falls and sports among others.
Blood samples were taken from these individuals starting four hours following the injury, and continuing periodically for seven days. The results that followed from testing showed two proteins– nicknamed GFAP and UCH-L1– that are found in brain cells and seem to leak into the bloodstream when a head trauma occurs.
The test showed that a spike in the two protein levels occurred one hour after the trauma, and a peak of the GFAP protein at 20 hours after the injury followed by a steady decline that is still detectable up to seven days after the initial trauma.
Along with this theory, Dr. Linda has concluded that those who suffered severe injuries showed blood levels with higher protein counts.
It’s worth noting that the study proved that these specific proteins were also found in low levels in a few of the patients that suffered non-concussion injuries such as a small head bump.
Dr. Linda’s study has opened up a new avenue for the nearly 2 million individuals that rely on emergency room treatment to diagnose and treat concussions and other brain traumas nationwide each year.
“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.”
It’s been a known custom for health professionals to rely on imaging tests that do not always show damage to the brain, which causes them to fall back on concussion symptoms to ambiguously diagnose an individual who has suffered from a head injury.
WATCH: @TomMacleod_ speaks to @AP_McCoy, @WillGreenwood & @SpecialKBrook on 'Concussion:The Impact on Sport' at 10pm https://t.co/rYFTbMUlH8
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) March 28, 2016
This breakthrough will allow doctors worldwide an opportunity to be more accurate with their assessment and diagnosis of individuals suffering with a head trauma rather than rely on symptoms that may be a result of other issues such as dehydration (dizziness and fatigue).
Aside from being a more accurate assessment of head traumas in general, the test also offers patients with an alternative to radioactive brain scans that can cost an arm and a leg in medical bills.
(Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
A Breakthrough For Concussion Treatment: Blood Tests, Not Head Scans, Will Accurately Diagnose Head Traumas is an article from: The Inquisitr News
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