New Test for Easier Diagnosis of Brain Injury
Brain injuries are some of the most catastrophic injuries, and usually occur in traffic accidents, or as a result of falls. There may be other causes like violence and workplace accidents. These injuries are, unfortunately, also some of the most difficult to diagnose.
Typically, a brain injury is diagnosed by checking the patient's vitals, and testing his thinking and memory. With such symptomatic testing, doctors often tend to misdiagnose a brain injury, or don't diagnose one at all. This can have serious consequences for patients, because late treatment can have a severe impact on a patient's chances of recovery.
However, there has been some progress in developing a blood test to determine the presence of biomarkers that can confirm brain injury. A Florida-based company called Banyan Biomarkers Inc., is conducting a series of studies into brain injury biomarkers. When a person is injured, the process of damage to the brain can be spread out over a few days, and over a period of time, there may be a number of proteins produced in the blood. The presence of these proteins, or biomarkers, can indicate that there has been a brain injury. Blood tests will focus on detecting these proteins, thereby making it much simpler, quicker and easier to diagnose and injury.
This concept is not exactly new. In fact, doctors have always known that severe brain injuries result in the presence of certain levels of biomarkers in the blood. However, the challenge has been in determining the level of biomarkers when there is a mild brain injury. According to Banyan, early intervention can minimize damage, and this is where a biomarker test will be useful. As an Atlanta injury lawyer, I am encouraged to see that there is a lot of ongoing progress in this field. Banyan is currently engaged in efforts to develop such a device. The US military has also jumped in, investing more than $17 million in a brain injury biomarker study that includes more than 1,000 patients.
