Friday, October 15, 2010

"This is huge."

USA Today ran a story today about a simple blood test that the US Army has developed which may objectively test for the presence of concussion.   The Army collaborated with Banyan Biomarkers, a Florida-based company, to develop the test. In checking Banyan's website, it looks as though the test consists of a panel of immunoassays which include SBDP145, SBDP120, UCH-L1, MAP-2, GFAP. If this test turns out to be as good as the Army is implying, the implications for those on the battlefield (and on the football playing field, I might add) are enormous. If it pans out, I would agree with Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff, who is quoted in the article as saying: "This is huge."

Thanks to Dr. Doug Shevlin for alerting me to this news story.

5 comments:

Agent 86 said...

Report: 3 Players In NFL Currently Do Not Have Concussions
http://is.gd/g6KWh

Brian E. Moore, MD, MEd said...

I love it! Thanks, Agent 86.

Adam King said...

wow

Rasmus said...

This bioassay should also be useful for the diagnosis of spinal injuries. These can start out very subtle at first but then progress due to significant secondary injury. Some interventions (e.g. EPO) have shown great benefits when given very early in the course of spinal injury.

Here is a more extensive article (WSJ) that also covers this story.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704720004575377082786936708.html

Rasmus said...

broken link due to length !
Here it is again, tinyurl'd:

http://tinyurl.com/2do5c7e

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