Personal Injury Law

Mild TBI-Current Science and Future Directions

By Bruce Stern

Yesterday I attended a wonderful presentation at the IABA's 8th World Congress entitled, "mild TBI-Current Science and Future Directions". The speakers were Jim Kelly, MD and Erin Bigler, Ph.D. Dr. Kelly is recognized as one of the leaders in the field of concussion in sports and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Kelly is the director of the new National Intrepid Center of Excellence, an advanced facility dedicated to research, diagnosis and treatment of military personnel and veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and psychological health issues.  Dr. Bigler,  a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Brigham Young University is a recognized expert in the field of neuro-imaging and traumatic brain injury.

Dr. Kelly discussed the work that is being done in the military with our wounded soldiers (studies show that 15-23% of our soldiers screens for TBI after leaving Iraq and Afghanistan are positive for brain injury. Dr. Bigler discussed advances in neuro-imaging. What I found fascinating was that neuro imaging which previously was insensitive to mild TBI is now more sensitive than neuropsychological testing. Dr. bigler presented an example where testing on the CVLT was marginally abnormal (most neuropsychologists would say not significantly different) while the imaging detected the abnormality.

Full post as published by Traumatic Brain Injury Law Blog on March 12, 2010 (boomark / email).