New Concussion Test Doesn’t Involve Radiation

There has been a lot of chatter about concussions in the media as of late, mainly due to the life-long issues professional football players are dealing with after experiencing multiple head injuries. Head trauma in sports is now being investigated more thoroughly, and it’s showing the real dangers of having not just multiple concussions, but just one. This research has even caused a decline in kids playing physical sports, like football.

The FDA approved a new technology involving blood testing and it is changing the concussion testing protocol for the better. The brain trauma indicator is a blood test that can detect Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, or in other words, concussions. Instead of using radiation via CAT scans, this test only involves taking blood samples from the patient. Radiation can be very harmful to a human body and brain, therefor this new leap in technology has many more benefits than just simply advancement in results.

The test detects the specific amount of proteins released by the brain after a mild brain injury. According to the FDA, the new blood test can predict the presence of an intracranial lesion 97.5% of the time. And the lack of an intracranial lesion 99.6% of the time. The FDA predicts the blood test could eliminate the need for CT scans in at least 1/3 of suspected concussion cases.