Concussion blood test

2023: Product Announcement

On October 4, 2023, Australian scientists from Monash University announced the development of a new technology that allows the rapid and accurate diagnosis of concussion from a blood test. The proposed method can be used to assess the condition of patients who have received mild traumatic brain injuries.

It is noted that there is no approved concussion blood test worldwide. Doctors rely on subjective signs and symptoms that patients themselves report. In severe cases, computed tomography can be used to detect hemorrhage in the brain after injury, but in most cases such consequences simply do not appear. And therefore, even in the emergency department, people can be discharged without a final diagnosis.

New technology makes it possible to quickly and accurately diagnose concussion from a blood test

In the new work, the researchers identified a combination of biomarkers that could be used to judge concussion within six hours of injury. We are talking about three proteins, each of which reflects different aspects of the biology of traumatic brain injury: these are interleukin-6 (IL-6), GFAP and UCH-L1. Their combination demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity in detecting concussion.

In the same patients screened a week after the concussion, the researchers found another specific biomarker -- NfL: It allows the diagnosis of trauma days after the event. Thus, NfL can be used to diagnose concussion in cases of delayed assessment, for example, if the patient did not immediately seek help from a medical facility.

If further studies confirm the effectiveness of the use of these biomarkers for determining concussion, the method will be implemented in clinical practice.^[1]

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