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On-field blood test can diagnose sports concussions

Date:
January 9, 2014
Source:
University of Rochester Medical Center
Summary:
A brain protein, S100B, which may soon be detected by a simple finger-stick blood test, accurately distinguishes a sports-related concussion from sports exertion, according to a study.
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A brain protein, S100B, which may soon be detected by a simple finger-stick blood test, accurately distinguishes a sports-related concussion from sports exertion, according to a study of college athletes in Rochester, N.Y., and Munich, Germany, and published in PLOS ONE by Jeffrey J. Bazarian, M.D., professor at the University of Rochester.

For years Bazarian and others have been investigating the use of S100B for on-field diagnoses of head injuries. The current method of diagnosing concussion by evaluating symptoms such as loss of consciousness, confusion, and headache are notoriously inaccurate. This makes it difficult for coaches and trainers to decide who should come out of the game.

S100B is a well-accepted biomarker for traumatic brain injury, and Europeans are already using it to decide who is at high risk for intracranial bleeding and in need of head CT scanning.

However, the obstacle to using S100B to diagnose sports concussions has been the observation that brain protein levels tend to rise slightly after physical exertion, for reasons that are not exactly clear. Therefore, scientists must first have the ability to separate the effects of physical exertion from concussion when looking at S100B levels in the blood.

In this study, 46 athletes completed preseason baseline testing for S100B. Researchers re-tested 30 of them after exertion and found that their S100B levels rose on average only about 2% compared to baseline.

Twenty two of the 46 athletes suffered clinically confirmed concussions. And of the 22 athletes, 17 underwent S100B testing within 3 hours of injury. Results showed their S100B levels soared an average of about 81% compared to baseline. Bazarian and his colleagues concluded that in these athletes a rise in S100B levels greater than 45% was nearly diagnostic of concussion.


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Materials provided by University of Rochester Medical Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Karin Kiechle, Jeffrey J. Bazarian, Kian Merchant-Borna, Veit Stoecklein, Eric Rozen, Brian Blyth, Jason H. Huang, Samantha Dayawansa, Karl Kanz, Peter Biberthaler. Subject-Specific Increases in Serum S-100B Distinguish Sports-Related Concussion from Sports-Related Exertion. PLoS ONE, 2014; 9 (1): e84977 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084977

Cite This Page:

University of Rochester Medical Center. "On-field blood test can diagnose sports concussions." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 January 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140109004257.htm>.
University of Rochester Medical Center. (2014, January 9). On-field blood test can diagnose sports concussions. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140109004257.htm
University of Rochester Medical Center. "On-field blood test can diagnose sports concussions." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140109004257.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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