Eye-Tracking Technology Offers More Accurate Way To Diagnose Concussions
Researchers have developed a new system for detecting concussions that tracks patients’ eye movements while they watch a short video. The method may be more effective than traditional methods — including computed tomography (CT) scans — in diagnosing brain injury.
According to a study published in Neurotrauma, 90 percent of patients with concussions display eye movement disorders. The principle investigator of that study, Uzma Samadani of NYU Langone Medical Center, developed an automated system that checks for this problem to more reliably assess concussions, reported Reuters.
According to Samadani, traditional follow-the-finger methods of diagnosing concussions rely heavily on physician judgment. “Each doctor is going to have variability in how well they’re going to be able to assess how well a person is getting better,” she told Reuters. An automated, computer-based program, she suggests, would be more consistent and reproducible.
The Neurotrauma study describes an algorithm Samadani and collaborators developed that tracks the Cartesian coordinates of the right and left pupils for just over 3 minutes while the patient watches a short video clip moving inside an aperture on a computer screen.
Researchers then compared the results of 64 uninjured control subjects to results from 75 trauma patients with both positive and negative CT scans. Patients who had suffered head injuries were less able to control their eye movements than were the uninjured participants.
The computer system also was able to detect the injury in patients with negative CT scans. Samadani explained to Reuters that her technology may be more effective because it tests functions rather than appearance.
Last year, researchers at Ohio State University (OSU) reported that instances of concussions among high school athletes had doubled in seven years. Joseph Rosenthal, clinical assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at OSU, remarked that because the study was observational, he could not draw definitive conclusions about the spike in numbers. “But I think in reality it’s showing that concussions that were occurring before are now being diagnosed more consistently — which is important,” he said.
Samadani hopes that her technology will contribute to further improvements in concussion diagnostics and spoke to TedTalk Blog about the long-lasting legacy of her research. “Brain injury is the greatest cause of death and disability for Americans under the age of 35 years of age,” she said. “By creating a biomarker and outcome measure for injury, we can test treatments and therapies and also evaluate prophylactics such as helmets.”
More research is required to evaluate what other factors could influence test results, and how to distinguish eye-movement symptoms of alcohol, drug use, and sleep deprivation from head injuries.
Currently, the technology is only available in research settings, but Samadani hopes the FDA will approve it for clinical use by the end of this year.
Image credit: NYU Langone Medical Center