I recently was sent an article entitled “Magnetoencephalography for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” published in the Journal of Neuroimaging Clinical North America. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a non-invasive technique for investigating human brain activity. It allows the measurement of ongoing brain activity on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis as it shows where in the brain activity is produced.

Continue Reading Magnetoencephalography (MEG) for mTBI and PTSD

A case study published in the Lancet, Public Health looked at the growing public health concern of homelessness and its relationship with traumatic brain injury.

The systematic review and meta-analysis examined original research studies that reported data on the prevalence or incidence of traumatic brain injury, or the association between traumatic brain injury or one or more health-related or function-related outcome measures.

Continue Reading Traumatic Brain Injury and Homelessness

In a new report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CDC reported that suicide is the top cause of deaths tied to traumatic brain injury. The CDC reported there were 61,000 traumatic brain injury linked deaths in 2017 and that nearly half of these deaths were caused by suicide.

Continue Reading CDC Reports Suicide is Top Cause of Death Tied to Traumatic Brain Injury

Experts hired in defense of mild traumatic brain injury claims often allege that mild traumatic brain injury recovery is uneventful in 6 to 12 months. Hearing a defendant’s courtroom doctor testify could lead one to believe that mild traumatic brain injuries are relatively benign and minor.

A new study published in Brain Injury sheds light on the high costs and health-care resources utilized in the first 12 months following a mTBI.

Continue Reading mTBI Recovery: The First Year will be Expensive

Researchers from Melbourne, Australia looked at cognitive reserve and age as factors to predict the cognitive recovery after a mild to severe traumatic brain injury. Recognizing that the persistence of injury-related cognitive impairments can have devastating consequences after traumatic brain injury, the researchers undertook a longitudinal study to examine the long-term cognitive recovery in 109 adults (71% male) experiencing complicated mild-to-severe traumatic brain injury in association with age, pre-mobid intelligence and injury severity (measured by post traumatic amnesia duration).

Continue Reading Cognitive Reserve and Age Predict Cognitive Recovery after Traumatic Brain Injury

A Superior Court of Washington for King County recently upheld the admissibility of diffusion tensor imaging.

In Peach v. RLI Insurance Company, defendants moved to exclude the testimony of Dr. Cyrus Raji and related testimony regarding the admissibility of diffusion tensor imaging. Defendants produced the affidavit of Dean Shibata, M.D. In deciding the motion, utilizing a Frye standard, the Court found as follows:

Continue Reading Another Win for Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)

A new study published in the European Journal of Neuroscience has found that young adults with a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or concussions, can experience persistent cognitive changes as well as altered brain activity.

Continue Reading Study Finds that Cognitive Impact can Persist in Young Adults with Concussions

In the mid-1990s, the Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC) was discovered to assess minor brain injuries. The SAC assessments consisted of orientation to time, day, and date, immediate recall, concentration, and detailed recall. SAC screening became a popular tool for various sports to determine a person’s head injury. Recognizing a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion is crucial, and although mTBI/concussions are common, there is no specific diagnostic tool to determine the severity of the injury.

The SAC assessments soon created the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT). After, the Department of Defense created their version of a SAC assessment called the Military Acute Concussion Evaluation (MACE). All three assessments became useful for their practices and helpful tools for non-sport related mTBI, but have resulted to have mixed results.

Continue Reading Reexamining the Standardized Assessment of Concussion