A day after a federal appeals court upheld the NFL’s $1 billion concussion settlement it appears there is a new test that can detect concussions, which some believe leads to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE.
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It is called a transcranial Doppler ultrasound device, a sophisticated unit that maps the blood flow in the brain of athletes which comes from a study by Robert Hamilton, Ph.D., co-founder of the L.A.-based software company Neural Analytics.
“There is growing evidence that concussions can change the blood flow in the brain,” said Hamilton. “While such changes may be detected with MRI, we believe there may be a less expensive and portable way to measure these changes with a TCD device.”
Currently, the device is the size of a briefcase, but the company is working on incorporating it into an automated headset that could be used on the sports field or in the military to make a quick assessment of whether the individual is able to continue with his or her activity or not, Dr. Hamilton said.
According to company’s website, Neural Analytics is creating products and services to measure, diagnose and track brain health. Our current focus is on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). We combine leading edge data science with established hardware to allow first responders and clinicians to accurately assess mild to severe TBI, including concussions. Our devices are portable, reliable and produce precise and objective physiological measurements.