New Test May Quickly ID Mild Traumatic Brain Injury With Underlying Brain Damage

Would this be useful to diagnose stroke also?
http://dgnews.docguide.com/new-test-may-quickly-id-mild-traumatic-brain-injury-underlying-brain-damage?
A new test using peripheral vision reaction time could lead to earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to a study published online by the Journal of Neurotrauma.
While most patients with mild TBI fully recover, a significant number do not, and earlier diagnosis could lead to better management of patients at risk for developing persistent symptoms, according to Peter J. Bergold, PhD, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, and colleagues.
Lingering symptoms may include loss of concentration and/or memory, confusion, anxiety, headaches, irritability, noise and light sensitivity, dizziness, and fatigue.
“Mild traumatic brain injury is currently diagnosed with subjective clinical assessments,” explained Dr. Bergold. “The potential utility of the peripheral vision reaction test is clear because it is an objective, inexpensive, and rapid test that identifies mild traumatic brain injury in patients who have a more severe underlying injury.”
For the study, the researchers measured crossed reaction times (CRT), uncrossed reaction times (URT), and crossed-uncrossed difference (CUD) in 23 patients 24 hours after mild TBI.
Measurements were done using a laptop computer that displayed visual stimuli predominantly to either the left or the right visual field of the retina.
Within 7 days after the injury, patients received a diffusion tensor-MRI (DTI) scan and a battery of neuropsychological tests. Nine uninjured control subjects received similar testing.
CUD deficits >2 standard deviations were seen in 40.9% of patients. The CUD of injured patients correlated with mean diffusivity (P < .001, ρ = -.811) in the posterior corpus callosum. Patients could be stratified on the basis of CUD on the Stroop 1, Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), and the obsessive-compulsive component of the Basic Symptom Inventory tests.
The findings suggest that the peripheral vision reaction time indirectly measures white matter integrity in the posterior corpus callosum -- a brain region frequently damaged by mild TBI.
SOURCE: SUNY Downstate Medical Center