New Tech Helps Determine Concussion Severity

The Electrode Mesh Cap in action (Photo Credit: Medical News Today)Concussions related to playing football have recently drawn great attention from the public. Recently, the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior (CB3) of University of Nebraska has developed a new device called the electrode mesh cap. The leading researcher, Dennis Molfese, remarks that, “Our goal is to do nothing less than to make this a cutting-edge, world-renowned, world-unique brain-imaging center that eventually will become a model for brain-imaging centers around the world.” The electrode mesh cap is a type of functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine that follows a brain’s blood flow. When a player is injured, he will put on the electrode mesh cap enabling medical staff to evaluate his brain waves and determine whether he can continue playing on the field. According to Molfese, the device could be ready to use in hospitals in 1 to 2 years that will help to screen patients of potential brain injuries. 

To learn more, check out Mary Ellis's article here on Medical News Today 

Recent Canadian Study Helps Youngsters to Prevent Brain Injury

Dr. Michael Cusimano, photo courtesy of St. Michaels HospitalAccording to a new study by St. Michael's Hospital in Canada, hockey took up 44.3 percent of all injuries and almost 70 percent of them occurred in children over 10 because of player-to-player contact or being hit into the boards. The study collected data from the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program to look at almost 13,000 children and youth aged 5-19 who had a sports-related brain injury between 1990 and 2009. The results also found that the youngest age group was at the highest risk for getting seriously injured in baseball. Most of the 15.3 percent of injuries occurred in children under the age of 14, with 45 percent of them in children under nine. "These results give us a very specific prevention message for kids under nine who play baseball: make helmets and supervision mandatory," said Dr. Cusimano, a neurosurgeon and leader of the study. He further suggests that "having educational programs, proper equipment, rules and other incentives that support a culture of safety in sports should be a mandate of parents, coaches, players, sports organizations, schools, sports sponsors, and other groups like governments."

More information is at: Science Daily, "New Study Aims to Prevent Sports-Related Brain Injury in Youngsters"

How young is too young to play tackle football?

Should parents let their children play tackle football despite the risks of concussions and their potential long-term consequences? This is a question that NPR’s Tom Goldman investigated in his recent article, Head Injuries Rattle Even Devout Football Parents (click the link to read).

Goldman discovered through his observations of youth football in Texas, where he aptly mentions the sport is often considered a religion, that while parents are increasingly more aware about concussions and the dangers they pose, many are still willing to let their kids gear up. It is currently estimated, according to USA Football, that nearly 3 million children, ages 6 to 14, participate in organized tackle football. As Dr. Robert Cantu, a neurosurgeon and co-author of Concussions and Our Kids, is referenced saying in this article, “Children are among the most vulnerable to concussion because of weak necks, immature musculature, and brains that are still developing.” Per Dr. Cantu’s recommendation, children under age 14 should not play tackle football.

Wesley Rolan, one of the parents interviewed, said he will let his 8-year-old son play until he suffers a concussion and then “that’s it—no more tackle.” When it's your child's brain at stake, is it even worth letting it get to that point?

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For more about the risks young athletes face, click the link to read about research done recently at Virginia Tech that shows youth football players suffer similar degrees of head impacts that college players do. Also, check out this video version of this article below.

Stone Phillips reporting for PBS Newshour: “ A Hard-Hitting Story: Young Football Players Take Big-League Hits to Head”

Watch Young Football Players Take Big-League Hits to Head on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Is the definition of a "concussion" too narrow? New study says yes...

A recent study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery argues that the current method of diagnosing sport-related concussions and head injuries based on the athletes’ reported symptoms is inadequate. According to the lead researcher, Ann-Christine Duhaime, MD, “The term ‘concussion’ means different things to different people, and it’s not yet clear that the signs and symptoms we now use to make a diagnosis will ultimately prove to be the most important pieces of this complicated puzzle.”

In Emergency Departments, patients that are diagnosed with a concussion usually exhibit “immediate changes in consciousness” due to a “clearly identified head impact.” However, after studying 450 contact-sport athletes with specialized sensors in their helmets, Duhaime and her team determined that of 48 concussions sustained, 17 of them could not be associated with a specific head impact and many of the athletes were unaware of the symptoms until several hours after their games. Clearly, not all concussions follow the same pattern and different athletes have various timings of symptoms and ways of describing them.

It seems that athletes would benefit from a broader categorization of concussions and a more encompassing method of diagnosing them. As Duhaime concludes, “A lot of work is needed before we can understand to what extent patients’ reported symptoms—compared to such factors as the actual force imparted to the brain, previous head injuries and genetic background—influence the eventual consequences of repeated head impacts, consequences that may vary from patient to patient.”

Follow the below link to read more about this on MedicalXpress.com:

“Criteria used to diagnose sports head injuries found to be inconsistent”

Follow this link for the study as published in the Journal of Neurosurgery:

“Spectrum of acute clinical characteristics of diagnosed concussions in college athletes wearing instrumented helmets.”

"Back-to-school health: Recognizing sport-related concussions"

As our Relevant Statistics section can attest to, sports-related Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) are a real problem for today’s kids. While concussions seem to be occurring more frequently among young athletes, most coaches, parents, and even players themselves don’t realize when it’s happened. As this article posted on Boston Children’s Hospital’s pediatric health blog warns, “Children who get a second concussion before fully recovering from the first are at a greater risk for serious, long-term problems.” This is a great read that provides helpful tips on how to recognize concussions so they can be treated immediately and further damage can be avoided.  

“Back-to-school health: Recognizing sport-related concussions,” by Alexandra Wade, Michael O’Brien, MD, and William Meehan, MD

To contact Dr. O’Brien with any further questions, send them in a tweet with hash tag #SafeSports and hopefully he’ll respond!

Update on Monday, October 1, 2012 at 10:54PM by Minutes for Memories

Some National Football League players choose helmets for looks over safety??? Maybe they should all read this article too...