Journal of Clinical Engineering

October/December 2013, 38(4): pp 191-195

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Physiological-Cognitive Biomarker for the Presence of Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

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Mireles, Matthew C. PhD, MPH, Community Medical Foundation for Patient Safety, Houston, TX

Jensen, Victoria N. BS, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, As, Norway

Myran, Line B. BS, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, As, Norway

Paske, William C. PhD, Red Oak Instruments, LLC,  Katy, TX

 

Abstract:

Rapid fine motor control measurements of the hands can be used to indicate the presence of concussions/mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) events without requiring baseline measurements. By comparing the individual reaction times of the hand's digits, a strong correlation can be shown to exist with variations between the fingers and thumb and concussion/mTBI. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis provides a 97% predictive probability for mTBI without requiring a baseline measurement for the reaction times. These measurements are made every 1 millisecond for 3 digits (thumb, index, and small fingers) simultaneously, and they appear to indicate severity of injury as well as rate of recovery, which would provide an objective "return-to-play" scale in sports.