About BIN

Who We Are

News

Academic Attribution

Blast Exposure Brain Inj.

BI Survivor Priorities

Brain Injury Advocacy

Brain Injury Forums

Brain Injury Fundraiser

Brain Injury Survivors

By and For

CA Department of Rehab

Contact Information

DOR CA TBI

Easy Version

ABIRA

Easy Picture Links

End Football

The Survivors' Viewpoint

A Chronic Disease?

A Cure for Brain Injury?

A Stroke is not a TBI

Advocates: Conflicts of

Brain Injury Awareness

Brain Injury Support

Can We be "Trained" ?

Definition of ABI and TBI

Independence

Internet Providers Share

Medical Designations

Our Own Advocacy

Politically Correct

Post-TBI Syndrome

Research, Clinical Trials

SABI

Social Communities

Survivor Organizations

The Survivor Movement

Use of the Term Survivor

Health Care Reform

Hospital Trauma Centers

How You Can Help

Human Rights

International Standards

Laws and Legislation

Lawyers and Attorneys

LINKS

Mandated Reporters

mTBI and Neuroimaging

National Standards

Online Community

Please Donate

Policy Advocacy ABI Forum

Postsecondary BI Programs

Postsecondary Protocols

Privacy Policy

Protect Your Privacy

Public Policy Index

California or Local

Senate Health Committee

Cautionary Tale

Cautionary Tale Timeline

Contact Us

Distribution List

Feasible Forum

Link to Us

Services Prioritization

Shop Online and Help BIN

Sign Our Guest Book

Survivor Advisory Council

Survivors As Stakeholders

What We Survivors Need

Who Represents Us?

Worldwide Community Event

Public Policy

Safety First

ABI Subclassifications

Abuse and Victimization

Accurate Reporting

Advocacy Agencies

Advocate Competency

Advocates: Disclosure

Assessments

Attorney Solicitations

Best Practice for Orgs

Bicycle Helmet Law

Brain Injury Community

Building Code Standards

Classification of TBI

Clinical Research

Cognitive Retraining

Community Reintegration

ComprehensiveHealthReform

Concussion and Sports

Conflict of Interest

Counselor Training

Crime

Department Mental Health

Devicing While Driving

Doctor Education

Drug Companies

Exposing Our Identities

Feeding Tube

Financial Institutions

Fluorescent Lighting

Funding Priorities for Us

Gold Standard Research

Helmet Law

High School Graduation

Hospital Privacy

Hospital Settings

Human Research Guidelines

Identification as People

Law Abiding Survivors

Law Enforcement

Least Restrictive Living

Living Environments

Local and County Services

Local vs. National

Locked Facility

Mandated Medical Review

Mandated Reporter Law

Medical Device Makers

Mental Illness

Orgs Offering Money to Us

Parental Rights

Patient Data Harvesting

Patient Empowerment

Patient Recruitment

Physician Disclosures

Post-Acute Environments

PostConcussion Syndrome

PCS is Physiological

Post-Secondary Education

Post-Secondary Programs

Post-TBI Syndrome Diag.

Privacy On-Line

Privacy Settings

Psychologist Training

PTSD (Post Traumatic...)

PVS to PWUS

QEEG

Raising Money to Promote

Recruitment Methodology

Removal of Life Support

School Age Kids with ABI

Skiing and Helmets

Social Communities Online

Sports Activities

State Survivor Councils

Stigma and Brain Injury

Stigma, Marginalization

Strokes are not TBI's

Support Group

Survivor Advocacy

Survivor Advocates

Survivor Priorities

Survivor Social Community

Survivor Stories in Media

TBI is a Subset of ABI

Terminology

The Term Survivor

Third Party Stakeholders

Trauma Hospitals

Universal Health Care

Veterans, US Armed Forces

Brain Injury Network

 

Advocacy by and for People with ABI (Acquired Brain Injury)

   
SEARCH

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) and
State-of-the-Art Neuroimaging (Brain) Scans

March 14, 2014

Historically there has been a lack of objective measurements in the detection of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI).  For example, standard MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans) show no distinction between patients reporting mTBI and controls (people without mTBI). Therefore, mTBI has traditionally been based on a patient's subjective reporting and experience. Unfortunately, many individuals with mTBI have not been able to convince certain medical providers that they have mTBI.

We are not doctors here, but we have noted that there are several imaging or evaluative techniques including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional MRI (fMRI), MR spectroscopy, and magnetoencephalography (MEG). But is has been tragic that the older neuroimaging technology cannot pick up brain damage associated with mTBI.

Apparently, there are revolutionary, newer neuroimaging methods that will show mTBI lesions in the brain. For example, there is Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), a version of MRI whereby mTBI in the brain can be detected. Since most MRI scanners are equipped to run DTI scans we urge hospitals that currently have MRI scanners to incorporate this kind of scanning into their protocols for the detection and verification of mTBI.

Susceptibility Weighted Imagining (SWI), a state-of-the-art advanced scanning methodology, does show mTBI lesions in the brain. One hospital that already utilizes SWI is the Walter Reed Army Hospital, a hospital for soldiers and veterans that is located in Bethesda, Maryland. There is an effort now to place these SWI scanners in brain injury centers for the soldiers and veterans in the USA. 

At long last people with subjective mTBI symptoms will be validated because of this new kind of neuroimaging technology. This advanced neuroimaging will confirm in an objective way that individuals have sustained mTBI. And this new technology will also benefit patients with more severe traumatic brain injuries as well.

These new scanning methodologies are game changers for the brain injury survivor community. We urge civilian hospitals, neurologists, and neurosurgeons to also purchase and/or champion this new technology. We cannot state strongly enough how important it is for all hospitals and additional medical neurological providers to incorporate these scanners and new evaluative techniques into their medical diagnostic and treatment programs.

Susan C. Hultberg, author 


See also:

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2003). The Report to Congress on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: Steps to Prevent a Serious Public Health Problem. Retrieved March 14, 2014, from
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/mtbi/mtbireport.pdf

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (2010). Diffusion Tensor Imaging May Improve Diagnosis and Tracking of Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries. Retrieved March 14, 2014, from
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/DTI_as_mTBI_biomarker.htm

National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE). (n.d.). Clinical Approaches to TBI and PTSD: An Update. Retrieved March 14, 2014, from http://www.dcoe.mil/content/Navigation/Documents/National%20Intrepid%20Center%20of%20Excellence%20Presentation.pdf

National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) Research Articles. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2014, from
http://www.nicoe.capmed.mil/Research/SitePages/RecentPublications.aspx

Scanning the Brain: What is a Brain Scan, Anyway? PBS.org. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2014, from
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/scanning/index.html

Sisk, R. (2012). Plans to Build Specialized TBI Centers Underway. Military.com.
Retrieved March 14, 2014, from http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/10/31/plans-to-build-9-specialized-tbi-centers-underway.html

The Secret Life of the Brain: Scanning the Brain: MEG (Magnetoencephalography). (n.d.). PBS.org. Retrieved March 14, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/scanning/meg.html

Traumatic Brain Injury Service / Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC).
(n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2014, from http://www.wrnmmc.capmed.mil/Health%20Services/Surgery/Orthopaedics%20and%20Rehabilitation/Traumatic%20Brain%20Injury/SitePages/Home.aspx

 

ABI/TBI Definitions, About BIN, Ban Dangerous Sports,
Brain Injury Advocacy, Brain Injury Forums,
Brain Injury Support Groups, California Area BIN, Cautionary Tale, 
Classification, Contact Us, Chronic Disease?, 
Concussions and Football,   Distribution List, Easy Version, 
Family Caregiver Group,  Global Issues,
Health Care Reform, Home, How You Can Help,  
Human, Legal and Civil Rights, Independence,
 
Laws and Legislation, Links, Mandated Reporters, National Standards, 
News,  Online Community,  Please Donate, 
Postsecondary Program Protocols,  Post-TBI Syndrome, 
 Privacy Policy, Protect Your Privacy
 
Public Policy, Public Policy Index,  Research/Clinical Trials/Studies,
SABI Group,  SEARCH,  Shop OnLine and Help BIN,
Sign Our Address Book, The Survivor Movement,
  
Survivor Public Policy, The Survivors' Viewpoint,
Terminology, Who Really Represents Us, Who We Are,
Worldwide Brain Injury Community,
Your Privacy Settings on the Internet 

 

 © Copyright 1998-2021.  Brain Injury Network

All rights reserved.