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Research on sophisticated diagnostic tests were presented this weekend at the annual meeting of the society for neuroscience in Washington, D.C.  According to a report published in USA Today, researchers from the University of California-San Diego combined “two advanced brain scanning techniques-MEG (Magnetoencephalography) and DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging)- that permitted them to detect brain damage in patients with mild traumatic brain injury in which conventional MRI and CT scans had been normal.  Mingxiong Huang, the presenting researcher from this study, stated “More research is needed before the dual technology can be used clinically in patients with such injuries (MTBI).”

Also presenting at the annual meeting were researchers from the University of Miami (Andrew Maudsley) who “reported that they used a new all-brain method of magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) to detect for the first time widespread brain damage that sometimes fails to show up in conventional brain scans of patients with mild to moderate TBI.

The researchers studied 17 patients admitted to a trauma unit with closed head injuries.  According to USA Today, “They looked at changes in three major brain chemicals and compared them with healthy brain images.  They found the MRSI images picked up diffuse chemical changes in the TBI patients, even in people who had been classified as having very mild injury.”

Clearly, the day is coming when patients with mild traumatic brain injury will have their injuries confirmed by objective diagnostic testing which obviously will have a significant impact on neurolitigation.