{"id":105074,"date":"2015-10-14T09:17:06","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T13:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=105074"},"modified":"2015-10-19T10:47:14","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T14:47:14","slug":"assessing-traumatic-brain-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2015\/10\/assessing-traumatic-brain-injuries\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessing Traumatic Brain Injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A device to evaluate concussions is demonstrated by Rohin Thomas ’17 (CAHNR), left, and Sarah Attanasio ’16 (CAHNR). (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UConn researchers are working with college athletes to test a new device that can quickly assess concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.<\/p>\n

The device, developed by Bethesda, Md.-based medical neuro-technology company BrainScope Co. Inc., is a handheld instrument that can help clinicians identify traumatic brain injury (TBI) at the time and place of injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrainScope approached the Korey Stringer Institute because of our extensive background in conducting research studies,\u201d says UConn graduate student Samantha Scarneo, director of youth sports safety at the Korey Stringer Institute. The concussion study \u201caligns with KSI\u2019s overall mission to prevent sudden death in sports and overall safety in all levels of sport,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

The device, which is not yet available commercially, is about the size of a smartphone. Placed on a patient\u2019s head, it measures a patient\u2019s electroencephalograph (EEG), or brainwaves, to gauge brain function after head injury.<\/p>\n

The non-radiation-emitting instrument was developed for military use in war zones, and is being adapted for athletes who sustain a TBI while playing contact sports. Within 10 minutes, the device can help medical personnel determine whether it\u2019s safe for a player who\u2019s had a head injury to return to the athletic field.<\/p>\n

TBIs include structural injuries such as a bruise or bleeding in the brain and what experts call a \u201cmilder form\u201d of TBI, concussions, caused by a bump or jolt to the head. These injuries can alter brain function yet be difficult to detect, as they don\u2019t always cause immediate symptoms.<\/p>\n

UConn, one of nine universities participating in the nationwide study, offers an added benefit in the form of state-of-the-art MRI equipment at the University\u2019s new Brain Imaging Research Center, and scientific staff to analyze and make sense of the diagnostic and medical imaging data generated by the study.<\/p>\n

Peter Molfese, assistant research professor and director of operations at UConn\u2019s Brain Imaging Research Center, notes that MRI works by manipulating magnetic fields of hydrogen molecules in the body to identify the structure and function of different brain tissues.<\/p>\n

After a concussion or other traumatic brain injury, Molfese says, there is a reduction in both gray and white matter in the brain. \u201cLess brain means that functions that were otherwise handled by particular areas need to be remapped to other areas. However, the brain\u2019s ability to remap function is not perfect, and various levels of head injury can leave people with permanent brain damage that can hinder their abilities later on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research efforts to accurately and quickly evaluate TBIs have intensified in the U.S. because of the toll they have had on the U.S. military (300,000 cases since 2000, according to the Department of Defense), and high-profile lawsuits brought against the National Football League by former players for its handling of concussions. In addition, a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found that 2.5 million emergency department visits, hospitalizations, or deaths were associated with TBIs.<\/p>\n

The UConn researchers are now working with both UConn club sports teams and Eastern Connecticut State University varsity and club sports teams to enroll athletes for the study. They aim to complete data collection in December or by the end of the spring sports season in 2016, depending on the number of athletes who sustain concussions. The study will use the Brain Imaging Research Center\u2019s fMRI machine for all of its MRIs, on both injured and non-injured participants.<\/p>\n

The interdisciplinary team working on the study includes Douglas Casa, head of the Kinesiology Department\u2019s Korey Stringer Institute, and Jeffrey Kinsella-Shaw, director of the physical therapy doctoral program, in addition to Scarneo and Molfese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn researchers are testing a new device that can quickly assess concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":105079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2231,2076,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[46],"class_list":["post-105074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-well-being","category-research","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 05:40:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105074"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105166,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105074\/revisions\/105166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/105079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105074"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=105074"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=105074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}