We should be able to research and extrapolate this to stroke if we had a decent stroke association following up interesting stroke research. But we don't, so fuck to you future stroke patients.
We would need to know the minimum damage detectable via this test. Would it detect TIAs?
http://dgnews.docguide.com/concussions-kids-are-detectable-blood-test?
Researchers have developed a blood test that can detect even the most
subtle signs of a concussion in children, correctly identifying the
presence of traumatic brain injuries 94% of the time.
“This could ultimately change the way we diagnose concussions, not
only in children, but in anyone who sustains a head injury,” said lead
author Linda Papa, MD, Orlando Health, Orlando, Florida. “We have so
many diagnostic blood tests for different parts of the body, like the
heart, liver and kidneys, but there's never been a reliable blood test
to identify trauma in the brain. We think this test could change that.”
For the study, published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine,
the researchers performed computed tomography (CT) scans on 152 children
and compared the results of those scans with results from the blood
test she developed.
As expected, the high definition imagery from the CT scans was able
to identify which patients had suffered visible traumatic brain
injuries, but the blood test detected symptoms of concussions, even when
brain injuries were not visible on the CT scan.
The team then tested blood serum from the same patients, which was taken less than 6 hours after their injuries.
“With our blood test, we were able to identify the presence of brain
injuries 94% of the time,” said Dr. Papa. “This simple blood test was
nearly as accurate as a state-of-the-art CT scan.”
Even more impressive, the blood test also gave doctors an indication of how severe the brain injury was.
“We were looking at different types of brain lesions detected by the
CT scans, ranging from mild to serious injuries, and found that the
biomarker we tested for actually corresponded to the injuries,” said Dr.
Papa. “Levels of the biomarker were lower in mild cases, and were much
more elevated in severe case.”
The biomarker this particular blood test looks for is known as glial
fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). These proteins are found in glial
cells, which surround neurons in the brain. When there's an injury to
the brain cells, the GFAP are released. What makes them unique is that
they pass the blood-brain barrier and enter the bloodstream, which makes
them easy to detect with this particular test.
Currently, almost all concussions in children are diagnosed only by
symptoms, which are either observed, like vomiting or balance problems,
or symptoms that are reported by the child, like headaches, blurred
vision or feeling groggy. Neither scenario gives doctors an objective
indication of the severity of the injury.
CT scans can provide a more definitive profile of the injury;
however, they are expensive and are associated with radiation exposure.
“You really want to minimise the amount of CTs you do to your
patients, especially children, who are a lot more sensitive to radiation
and the side effects that can come with it,” said Dr. Papa. “If there
was a simple diagnostic tool like a blood test that can tell us quickly
and accurately if a brain injury has occurred, and how severe it might
be, that would be ideal.”
Researchers plan to do more studies with the blood test, but they
hope it will be commercially available within the next 5 years.
SOURCE: Orlando Health
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