brain injury

Mild concussion? Simple blood test can detect injury up to a week after

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Molecular marker could help treat and prevent brain damage.

 

A barely bruised brain can send out molecular SOS signals in the blood for days after an injury, researchers report this week in JAMA Neurology.

The finding suggests that new blood tests, already in development to detect those signals, may be able to identify even the mildest concussions well after a knock to the head.

“It is common for patients who have had a concussion or mild [traumatic brain injury] not to seek immediate medical attention,” the authors write. Kids, in particular, might have delayed or mild symptoms and go without treatment right away. Letting a concussion go undiagnosed may mean returning to work or school too soon, thwarting the brain’s efforts to heal. This can lead to dizziness, memory loss, depression, and headaches. And if a patient returns to play or sports too quickly, further hits to the head could lead to more severe or even permanent damage.

 

Read on ArsTechnica

Will Football Players Someday Take a Concussion Pill?

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New research provides a potential pathway to a drug to save people from the progressive damage of severe or repeated concussions

 

An experimental treatment helps restore normal brain structure and function in mice that have sustained severe concussions, and could lead to a drug that would do the same in humans, according to new research.

The brains of people who suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects people such as boxers and football players with a history of repetitive hard hits to the head, are characterized by fibrous tangles of a protein called tau. It is not known how traumatic brain injury leads to these tangles, which are also found in the brains of people who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

 

 

Read full article at MIT Technology Review