Can concussion be tested for with a 'simple' blood test?

Conclusion This study is a prospective cohort study that aimed to investigate the use of two proteins in the blood – GFAP and UCH-L1 – as markers for detecting mild to moderate traumatic brain injury. The study found both proteins could be present in the blood after a head injury, with higher levels of UCH-L1 in the early stages after injury, while GFAP seemed to be a good marker for up to a week after injury. But both biomarkers were not found in all cases. One in five people with a brain injury did not have detectable levels of GFAP, and 1 in 10 did not have UCH-L1. This substantially reduces their ability to be used as a diagnostic test. The study has both strengths and limitations. Strengths are that the researchers included a reasonable number of participants and a control group to draw comparisons between trauma patients with and without brain injury. Laboratory personnel analysing the samples were also masked to clinical data and radiologists were masked to study protocol when assessing the scans, which reduced the risk of bias. The study's limitations include that the participants were all from a single centre in the US – this may not be representative of other populations. Also, as the authors state, the number of samples available for analysis decreased substantially over the study period, with only 51 people providing samples after the first 24 hours and just four patients after 180 hours. As the tests were not able to correctly identify all people with ...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Neurology Source Type: news