New Test Could Save Kids With Concussions
Imagine a mobile device that not only identifies concussions in children but tells you how bad they are. (Image via AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Researchers say a new blood test has them closer to that ideal and diagnoses child concussions with 94% accuracy, UPI reports.
Related: $25 Blood Test Finds Every Virus You’ve Ever Had
"This simple blood test was nearly as accurate as a state-of-the-art CT scan,“ says Linda Papa, an emergency medicine physician behind a new study. She had researchers look at 257 children, 197 of whom had suffered blunt trauma to the head, and compare CT scans in 152 of the kids to their blood test results. Not only were the tests reliable, they identified the severity of the injury by measuring a biomarker released when brain cells are injured. That biomarker, called glial fibrillary acidic protein, exists around the brain’s neurons.
Related: 440-Pound Teen May Be Biggest Football Player Ever
Current concussion tests can only spot symptoms like blurred vision, headaches, and vomiting, which don’t tell you if the injury’s a bad one, according to a press release. CT scans are more informative but also leak radiation, which Papa says children "are a lot more sensitive to.” So she wants to create a scientific field test “to help the coaches … make a decision then and there about whether the child should go back to play."
Newsletter: The Yodel
Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox
See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.
Her dream is to turn the blood test into a mobile device like ones diabetics use; researchers say there might be a commercially available version within five years.
Related: Having a Single Energy Drink May Pose Health Risks
"This could ultimately change the way we diagnose concussions, not only in children, but in anyone who sustains a head injury,” says Papa. As it stands, hospitals treat almost 250,000 children annually for traumatic brain injury, which amounts to almost 700 kids per day. (The brain disease rate of dead NFL players is pretty shocking.)
By Neal Colgrass
More From Newser:
Vegetable Oils Can Actually Kill You
Your Earwax Says a Lot About You
This article originally appeared on Newser: New Test Could Save Kids With Concussions
Solve the daily Crossword
