New blood test shows concussion

New evidence for concussions -Bluttest should bring certainty

14/11/2014

In sports such as basketball, ice hockey or football it comes in the heat of battle again and again to falls and blows on the head, which can lead to a concussion. Undetected, craniocerebral trauma, as it is also called in medicine, can have serious consequences for the players. If bleeding or swelling in the brain is not treated fast enough, these injuries can result in major damage. It can usually be enough that the player is just taken off the field.

Persistent head and neck pain may be a hint
Concussion is a mild craniocerebral trauma of the brain, in which there are no visible injuries to the head due to lacerations or fractures of the cranial bones. Typical symptoms include nausea or vomiting, severe or persistent headache, and neck pain.

However, the athletes do not always notice that they have seriously injured themselves and sports physicians do not have the equipment for a reliable rapid diagnosis on the sidelines, as is the case in doctors' practices and hospitals. So far, a concussion could be diagnosed really reliable only by a computer or magnetic resonance imaging. On-site physicians can only estimate the extent of an injury with the help of simple cognitive tests.

Together, doctors at the hospital on the right side of Munich's Isar, together with American colleagues, have developed a first rapid test on behalf of the National Institutes of Health, which uses a drop of blood from the fingertip to detect the smallest injuries in the brain, according to the Munich doctors.

Protein as a reliable indicator
According to the scientists, a protein (S100B) in the blood that rises after a concussion can provide a reliable indication of a concussion. In a study of 46 athletes, the researchers were able to show that concussion occurs when the S100B protein has increased more than 45 percent from normal, according to the results of the study published in the current issue of the journal "PLOS ONE".

„The S100B protein is already being used in clinical practice as a supporting criterion for deciding after craniocerebral trauma whether a CT scan is required“, says Prof. Peter Biberthaler, Director of the Clinic for Trauma Surgery of the Klinikum rechts der Isar München. However, the blood test needs to be further refined before it is used in mass production, because the S100B values ​​are different from person to person and an increase also takes place during physical exertion. (Fr)