Is portable imaging the answer?

A company producing portable CT scanners, NeuroLogica, supports the NFL summit to review concussion policies. Evidently, their CereTom scanner was adopted as the "Official Scanner of the De La Hoya/Mayweather fight", and

NeuroLogica recently received accolades from medical staff ringside at the Oscar De La Hoya - Floyd Mayweather fight on May 5, as the company provided its mobile, cordless CT scanner, the CereTom, to scan boxers post-fight. The company scanned eight boxers following fights throughout the weekend, and potentially saved one man's life by identifying a brain bleed that otherwise may have gone undiagnosed had he not been scanned.

The problem is that concussions rarely involve positive finding on neuroimaging... other than the extremely rare moderate-to-severe closed head injury with intra-cranial bleeding, a CT-scanner will likely show nothing following an concussion.

Roethlisberger on helmet use

One-year after his motorcycle crash, Ben Rothlisberger was interviewed about his accident and its aftermath:

The 25-year-old Roethlisberger was asked to do public service ads advocating the use of a helmet while riding a motorcycle in Pennsylvania, but declined to do so.

"I think it's every person's decision, whatever they want to do," he said.

Pennsylvania's Motorcycle Helmet law is ridiculous, as is any law that decreases use of death-preventing safety devices, but this guy is lucky to be alive... maybe he still has lingering effects of that concussion?

When in doubt...

sit them out.

A well-known phrase championed by Dr. Robert Cantu, and reaffirmed in this news article:

...high-schoolers are more vulnerable to concussion than younger athletes. "Their brains seem to be in a second window of development," Rieger explains. "Because of what's going on metabolically, the brain seems to be more vulnerable to injury and takes longer to recover." And, someone who has suffered one concussion is more at risk if they suffer another. The symptoms can last longer, and recovery can take longer.

If you are a parent or coach, and you're unsure how seriously a player was hurt, Rieger says pull them from the game. "When it doubt, sit them out."

NFL needs to get things corrected

So, the authors of a controversial article in Neurosurgery claim that the actually disputed the findings that it is safe to return players to the same game in which they were concussed:

Two of the five authors of the paper published in the journal Neurosurgery, Dr. Henry Feuer of the Indiana University Medical Center and Dr. Cynthia Arfken of Wayne State University, said in telephone interviews last week that the paper’s conclusion was inappropriate, and that the research should not be applied to high school and college players.

The NYTimes article goes on to state:

Arfken and Feuer thereby joined critics who had long claimed that such a suggestion was dangerous for younger players. Their less-developed brain tissue is believed to be more susceptible to short- and long-term damage than adults’. They also receive considerably less medical attention than players in the N.F.L.

The NFL has boldly stated:

On behalf of the N.F.L., the league spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement, “We do not believe, and have never suggested, that the experience of N.F.L. players, or the return-to-play decisions of team physicians, should guide the management of concussions in high school or college players.”

Sounds like this upcoming summit on Mild TBI is a good idea...

Word is getting out

Concussion appears to be the hot topic in the news lately. NFL coaches and players are talking about the importance of concussion management, NFL Coaches and Owners are trying to stop head-shots, and we have stories popping up on MLB players, Professional Wrestlers, and even on fantasy baseball sites.

Now, if only there were "concussion centers" for concussed kids, like the one this 11-year-old went to.