Georgia Injury Law Blog
Much of brain injury treatment depends on being treated immediately after the injury, to prevent further damage to injured brain tissue.However very often, doctors fail to diagnose the injury, especially if the injured patient has not lost consciousness.Other times, doctors may be confused about whether the person has suffered a brain injury or is having a stroke of some kind.This delay in diagnosis can severely impact the person’s recovery.
The US Department of Defense is investing approximately of $17 million to fund a study that will look into the development of biomarkers to easily diagnose brain injury.Currently, doctors use a blood test to diagnose the presence of a chemical called troponin in the blood, when a person is having a heart attack.Before these tests were developed, a physician only had the visible symptoms of a heart attack to depend on, for his diagnosis.However, with the biomarker test, he can look for protonin to confirm that the person is indeed having a cardiac arrest.The Defense Department study will look at developing something similar for brain injury.Consider this-a physician simply uses a test to diagnose a patient’s brain injury without having to depend on conflicting external symptoms.
There’s a reason why the Department of Defense is so eager to have progress on this.Treatment of brain injuries in veterans continues to be a challenge for the military.Tests like these will help army medics diagnose injuries quicker and begin treatment faster.
These tests can also be used to diagnose brain injury in persons who have suffered an injury in an auto accident, motorcycle accident, slip and fall accident, workplace or industrial accident and so on.Preliminary tests conducted in lab rats show that there is a strong relationship between the level of the brain injury and presence of certain brain biomarkers in the animal’s blood.There is reason to be very encouraged that we could soon have a device that facilitates speedy diagnosis of brain injury, and therefore, quicker treatment.
The Atlanta injury lawyers at the Katz Personal Injury Lawyers represent injured victims of auto/truck/motorcycle accidents across Georgia.