Researchers present eye-tracking technology for concussion detection

Neuroscientists and concussion experts from NYU Langone and other centers recently presented results from a study in which a novel eye-tracking device was utilized for measuring the severity of concussions or brain injuries in patients who presented to the emergency department after experiencing head trauma.

The study, results of which were published in the Journal of Neurotrauma, included 64 healthy control subjects and 75 patients who presented to the emergency department at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City after trauma, according to a press release. The researchers tracked and compared the movements of patients’ pupils for more than 200 seconds while they watched a music video. All participants were between 18 and 60 years of age.

Thirteen of the trauma patients who had hit their heads had CT scans showing new brain damage and 39 trauma patients who had hit their heads but had normal CT scans demonstrated significantly less ability to coordinate their eye movements than normal, uninjured controls. Data also showed 23 patients who had bodily or extremity injuries but did not require head CT scans had similar abilities to uninjured controls with regard to coordinating eye movements, according to the release.

Overall, most patients who had hit their heads but had normal CT scans were slightly worse by 1 to 2 weeks after their injury but subsequently recovered about a month later. The researchers also found that the severity of concussive symptoms appeared to correlate with the severity of disconjugacy for all trauma patients.

The researchers hope to replicate the device’s diagnostic potential for head injuries in veterans with post-concussive syndrome and post-blast military brain injury, according to the release.

Reference: www.med.nyu.edu.