The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new test developed by Abbott Laboratories to detect concussions caused by mild brain injuries in patients who have had head accidents through a simple blood test. The British newspaper, The Daily Mail: The test, known as iSTAT, requires withdrawal A blood sample from the patient and a search for two vital signs of blood.
The newspaper added that the US Food and Drug Administration "FDA" approved a blood test capable of detecting the concussions that the NFL could use one day to detect mild brain injuries that could lead to chronic, life-threatening "traumatic" encephalopathy.
Abbott said the test has demonstrated a 95.8% ability to identify patients with a concussion, and give results within 15 minutes. The test could limit costly CT scans, and the researchers say they hope the test can be used in the future outside of care settings. Health, such as sporting events.
Researchers say this could eliminate long wait times in emergency rooms as well as costly and unnecessary CT scans.
The test is currently only available in healthcare settings, however, in the future, it could be used in sporting events, such as the NFL games, so players can receive a quick assessment.
Dr. Beth McCoyston, medical director of diagnostic work at Abbott, said the US Department of Defense has begun work on this project and is starting studies.
"This test is a game-changer," said McQueston. "This is the first available rapid blood test available by hand to evaluate concussions in minutes. It's a huge leap forward in evaluating traumatic brain injury."
Currently, concussion is diagnosed by a doctor who watches for signs such as headache, fatigue, dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting and ringing in the ears.
In addition to a neurological examination or cognitive test, patients may have to undergo an MRI or CT scan.
According to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, between 1.7 and 3 million sport and recreation-related concussions occur each year, however, half of them are not reported or detected.
Untreated concussions can cause severe neurological damage in the future, especially if a second injury occurs before the first injury has completely healed.
"It's an invisible injury, so we want to make the invisible invisible," McCoyston said, explaining that the test measures two biomarkers in the blood: glial fibrous acid protein (GFAP) and ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L).
Both appear in greater concentrations in the blood plasma after the brain injury, but in light injuries that may not appear in the examination, a small blood sample is taken that is drawn from the arm, then researchers separate the plasma, the liquid part of the blood, from the rest of the sample, then the plasma is placed on Test cartridge, which is inserted into the handheld tool.
The results of a study that showed the test was 95.8% accurate in identifying patients with a concussion and 99% in identifying those without a concussion were published in The Lancet in August 2019. No cost has yet been determined, but it is expected to be lower. Much more expensive than a CT scan.
A negative result, the researchers said, may rule out the need for a CT scan while a positive test might lead to a CT scan.
"The assessment of brain injuries is complex - research shows that we capture about half of those who come to hospital with suspected traumatic brain injury," said Dr. Geoffrey Manley, vice chair of the department of neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco, plus those who go to Hospitalized on suspicion of brain injury, many never do so.
A test like this could encourage more people to undergo testing after a head injury, which is important because not receiving a diagnosis can be dangerous and may prevent people from taking the necessary steps to recover safely, the newspaper said.
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