Concussions Can Now be Detected by a Simple Blood Test

Researchers at Orlando Health have recently devised a potential way to detect subtle evidence of concussion nearly right away.

The new study, published in JAMA Neurology, helps physicians to start the correct course of treatment for a patient at a critical point in the injury--even before irreversible damage occurs.

According to a report from News Week, the new blood test detects a biomarker found in the blood called the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).

These proteins surround neurons in the brain and are released into the bloodstream when a serious head injury occurs.

The study was conducted for over 3 years by obtaining blood samples from 584 patients within 4 hours of injury. Repeated blood samplings were done to the patients for 7 days, collecting a total of 1831 blood samples.

The researchers discovered that the GFAPs were detectible within an hour of an injury.

They also found out that said proteins in the blood peaked at 20 hours after the injury and slowly declined over 72 hours.

Brain scans were also used as a cross-reference for the blood test. The researchers were able to accurately identify mild to traumatic brain lesions 97 percent of the time by detecting the presence of GFAP in the blood.

Traumatic brain injury is one of the major causes of deaths in the United States, amounting to 30 percent of all injury deaths. According to the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 138 people in the U.S. die from injuries that include traumatic brain injury.

In a statement, Dr. Linda Papa, an emergency medicine physician at Orlando Health and lead author of the study, said the new blood test could ultimately change the way we diagnose concussions.

"We have so many diagnostic blood tests for different parts of the body, like the heart, liver and kidneys, but there's never been a reliable blood test to identify trauma in the brain," she added. "We think this test could change that."