New Technology Could Detect Concussions Within Minutes
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Comment| Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006 | Emily Halevy | CWK Producer |
“There’s still a holdover from the past of, you know, you got your ‘bell rung’ - that’s just part of the game, get back in there and play. And now we know that is not just part of the game. That could set the player up for long-term problems with school, long-term problems with emotion and their relationships, and even worse, injury on the field. ”
– David Wright, M.D., emergency medicine, Emory University
Over three million high school athletes will suffer from a sports-related injury this year. Among the most dangerous of those injuries are concussions. Many times they can be difficult to identify - and unfortunately, many times young athletes are put back in the game before they’re ready.
But a new sideline device may help coaches detect when a player has suffered an impact.
16-year-old Cameron Langhoff remembers his concussion: “My head [was] pounding and ringing, and I kind of fell to my knees and looked up - and guys were saying ‘you’d better go tell the trainer’.”
Cameron’s concussion was easy to detect, but many times, not even the athlete will realize they’ve had one.
“Diagnoses of concussion is actually the difficult part,” says Dr. David Wright of Emory University. “It can be quite elusive for a number of reasons. One is that there are a variety of symptoms. It can be something as simple as a vacant stare or a little bit of confusion, or just a little bit of imbalance or not thinking right.”
He says all too often players with concussions go back into the game long before they’re ready.
“Historically, the way it was done is, you know, ‘how many fingers am I holding up?’” he says. “That clearly is not good enough. Which is why a lot of evolution in this testing has occurred.”
One new experimental testing device is called DETECT – Display-Enhanced Testing for Concussions and mTBI (Mild Traumatic Brain Injury) system. It measures cognitive ability and impairment.
“This device was designed to be able to use on the sidelines in real time,” says Wright, who helped develop DETECT. “It takes about five to seven minutes to take the test and complete it, which is realistic for a sports or an athletic competition. And it gives you a hard number - and it compares it to their base-line test that they take pre-season.”
He says this device could save many athletes from suffering further and more serious brain damage.
“No one wants to end up with permanent brain damage. No one wants to not be able to succeed academically for the rest of their lives all because of a game,” he says, “So being able to detect that they’ve had a concussion and being able to know when they can safely go back into the game- that’s really the key factors.”
DETECT is expected to be commercially available in the next two to four years.
Tips for Parents
- Loss of consciousness is not an accurate indicator of how bad a concussion is. Significant brain damage can occur even when a player doesn’t black out. Most concussions, in fact, do not involve knockouts. (Robert Cantu, M.D., chief neurosurgeon, Emerson Hospital)
- Short-term symptoms of a concussion include headaches, nausea, imbalance, memory problems and concentration difficulties. Long-term symptoms include a worsening of those issues - as well as a drop in grades and possibly depression. (David Wright, M.D., Emory University)
- CT scans and MRIs are used primarily to rule out skull fractures and bleeding in the brain. They don’t detect cognitive responses like memory, concentration, reaction time and coordination. (Phil Hossler, athletic trainer, Brain Injury Association)
- It’s extremely important that an athlete is cleared and recovers fully from a concussion before they go back on the field. Second impacts can have dangerous and long-term consequences. (David Wright, M.D., Emory University)
- Data suggests that teenagers and adolescents have a more difficult time recovering from concussions. Experts believe this is because their brains are not completely developed. There are looser rules and regulations on the field at that age, and the athletes have less experience with tackles and landings. (David Wright, M.D., Emory University)
- If there is any doubt whether an athlete has suffered a concussion, have them sit out the event. It’s not worth the risk to get back in the game before they are completely recovered. (David Wright, M.D., Emory University)
References
- American Academy of Family
- Brain Injury Association
- Emory University
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Department of Biological Engineering
