Molecules In Spit May Be Able To Diagnose, Predict Length of Concussions
Concussions are always a hot topic in medicine. Recently, Penn State College of Medicine did a study on how the duration of concussions can be diagnosed using spit. This could revolutionize the way concussions are treated and potentially diagnosed. Concussions have always been very subjective and not very objective. This treatment option would allow sports medicine professionals to be more objective with their treatments. What do you think? Would something like this be possible to implement into high school and college concussion protocols? Or is something like this a little too far-fetched to potentially treat concussions?
In contact sports the past 5 years alone concussion prevention, treatment, and knowledge has explode especially in sports like football that often have recurring head injuries. Concussions have long lasting dangerous effects and treating these head traumas and being able to diagnose properly can save lives. Treatment for concussions are very subjective and based off of the patients symptoms and responses. There is a new emerging science of studying RNA of patient's spit to determine to severity and length of a concussion. This new technology could be great even for regular people in the case of car accident, whiplash and concussion. This is still very new in the developmental stages but the tests they ran for microRNA on children it worked 85% of the time. Hopefully within 2 years this could be used in HS and colleges but in my opinion, I wouldn't use this technique until it has a higher percentage of correctness of detection, with a lower percent error.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of using RNA to diagnose concussions is a great idea in itself, but I feel in the athletic setting it is a bit unrealistic because to get some type of device that an Athletic Trainer can be trained to use and use effectively would cost an unforeseen amount of money and who knows if most school system or athletic facilities will be able to afford said devices that still have to be invented to be used outside of a laboratory setting. I feel like implementing something like this would be very difficult in a high school or even collegiate setting because of cost involved and training required. Unless you use this as a secondary means of diagnosis for example say an athletic trainer diagnoses an athlete with a concussion then a doctor does this test to determine the specifics of the issue that would be the only way I believe this would work. Overall my feelings towards using spit to diagnose concussions would be way too far fetched to be used in an athletic setting with no difference between collegiate and high school athletics, however as I stated above, this would be perfect to be used in a laboratory setting or in a hospital or something of that way
ReplyDeleteWith the continuously increasing levels of concussions among young athletes, it is extremely important to find new and better ways in order to treat and diagnose them. This study, although it still has flaws, it is on the track to revolutionize the treatment of concussions by making it more objective rather than subjective as it is now. Detection of changes in specific RNA molecules in saliva has been found to have an 85% accuracy level in regards to the overall length of the concussion and related symptoms. This number is low, however it still beats out the current low to mid 60% accuracy level that is associated with the observational method in place. If is discovered that the RNA markers have a greater level of accuracy i'm sure it will quickly be implemented in professional level sports where injuries are common and funds are high. However this technology is advanced and would most likely required special training. That special training would have to be given to all athletic trainers and would add on to their already hefty educational knowledge requirements. Also that equipment may not be something that smaller colleges and high schools would be able to afford, putting them at a great disadvantage.
ReplyDeleteI think that the general idea of this is amazing. It’s an example of genius problem-solving in more ways than one. Not only did they come up with a better way to test for the duration of concussion symptoms, which can tell you how long it might take for the concussion itself to heal, but they also found a way to make drawing blood necessary (which is a huge advantage in my book), and they found a something different to test other than proteins, which are difficult to use. I’m not sure if it’s quite ready to be implemented in high school and college concussion protocols yet, but with more research and fine-tuning, absolutely. However, I do believe that this spit test, when done on an athlete should be used as more of a general suggestion for an athletic trainer, and the trainer can make adjustments to the protocol, keeping the results in mind. I don’t think that there should ever be a time when a concussion protocol is allowed to be shortened for an athlete because of the results of his/her microRNA spit test. I think that these should only ever be used for the trainer or healthcare professional to possibly lengthen the protocol. Concussions are very serious, and even when we are coming up with new ways to test for them or try to treat them, we need to keep in mind how dangerous they can be, and the fatal consequences that can arise from Second Impact Syndrome.
ReplyDeleteWith the research that was already done in this small sample size it shows to be revolutionary for concussions, something that is always being worked on and being analyzed in the medical world. If just using spit to project the length and severity of a concussion that seems like something that could be used everywhere if what is used to analyze it is simple enough for not just the people who made it, but regular doctors and schools athletic trainers. This would be very helpful because it is a lot more accurate then just going off what the patient says because they could be lying about their symptoms so that they can get back to play faster, but using this, this gives indisputable data if a patient is still suffering from a concussion. In this way it makes it a lot safer for a player to go back to play because it isn't just an educated guess if the player is ready to go back to play, it is evidence proving that they are ready to get back to play, this is better because it reduces the chance of someone going back to play when they aren't ready, and then in turn getting inquired again.
ReplyDeleteConcussions have been a huge problem when it comes to athletes and their injuries. It is often hard to diagnose concussion and know when exactly the athlete will be able to play again. It is almost a guessing game on how long a player will be out and whether they are symptom free or just saying they are to get back to playing. Concussion already have dangerous effects on the body and the brain especially if a player returns to play before they should. This new research is very intriguing and could help to treat and diagnose head trauma properly, saving many lives. The new research says that the RNA in a person’s saliva can help to determine the severity and the length of a patient’s concussion. This could help many head trauma patients, not just athletes to get back to their normal lives after a concussion. It is extremely important to have a proper diagnosis of concussions and give the brain enough time to heal and for each person it is different. This new research could help to make sure that proper amount of time is being reached for each individual patient is getting the proper rest time to heal.
ReplyDeleteThis article is discussing how to detect concussions based on ones saliva and not solely on the patients survey. This detection would be more evidence based than just relying on what the patient says they feel like. Even though the patient is feeling a certain way and doctors are able to give an estimate of how long they should rest, there is no way to know for sure. So, they started looking at microRNA's in saliva to see if there is a more clear approach to diagnosing a concussion. They are looking at microRNA's because they affect how genes are expressed based on the condition of that particular person such as disease or injury. This study shows that they did not have 100% accuracy; however, this technique was more accurate than any other test that has been tried. Personally, I think that something like this would be able to be implemented in high school and colleges in order to detect concussion. I think that this could help a patient get a more accurate treatment option and diagnoses. However, I think that more research needs done, so they can make this test even more affective. All in all, I think this is a good start to having a more affective approach to detecting and treating concussions.
ReplyDeleteReading through the article it was very interesting learning about how a new study can help detect concussions a lot sooner by using the saliva from a patient who recently was diagnosed with a concussion. In my opinion I think it would be beneficial to use this new treatment and technique. I say this because as generations go on it is important to stay up to date on new ways to improve medicine and equipment for different types of injuries. I know that in the past by taking the course ATR 171 I learned that concussions had three different grade levels but now has changed to all concussions are treated as if it was life threatening. So just based off of this information everything and anything can change because doctors or researchers are finding out that there are different and better techniques that will benefit patients a lot sooner. Yes I think that there should be some more studies done before making this a new way to fix concussions but just based off the data that has been found already is very promising. Looking through the article I found a lot more positives things rather than negatives things about this new technique on determining the length of revoring for someone who got a concussion. I think this could help out the younger generation since it is difficult for kids to be able to repeat things backwards and even just being able to say words back due to the fact kids have a short attention span. I honestly don’t see why not this couldn’t be in high schools or colleges if this passes to become a new way for helping someone with a concussion.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see more studies done before I could be completely on board with this method of diagnosing concussion, but by the facts shown it is a more effective and accurate way than the SCAT-3 and the patient reporting the symptoms. I believe if it was true I think it could revolutionize testing concussions and help patients be safer by making sure the concussion is gone before returning to activity. Also, from a coach’s perspective it is more helpful because they can get a more definite timetable rather than going day by day until all of the concussion symptoms have disappeared. This test may also help prevent second impact syndrome from happening in athletes and lessening the fatalities from that harmful accident. I think it could be hard to get this test implemented in to the high school and college concussion protocols because the research is no new and has not had enough tests done to prove its accuracy. As of now I think saliva microRNAs profiling concussion and the patient’s symptoms has a long way to prove its self before being taken seriously with such a dangerous and sensitive matter such a trauma to the brain of an individual.
ReplyDeleteI find this study on finding the way to analyze the duration of concussions to be beneficial, not only for athletic trainers to be able to know how to treat it better because instead of guessing they will know more accurately. But I think this would also help the athlete more mentally just knowing more so the severity of their incident. I say this because when I got my first concussion I really didn’t know how long it was going to last therefore I was unprepared for it which made it seem like the concussion took forever. So, this way the athlete knows more of what they are dealing with and what to expect length wise which helps mentally I think. Another thing is I find it interesting how they would use MicroRNAs throughout the body as biomarkers to predict the presence of the concussion. I think something like this could be possible to implement into high school and colleges concussion protocols because it doesn’t require much to collect saliva from an athlete and it would cause them to have more control on concussion which can be very subjective. This would be a great new way to asses concussion other than the symptoms survey which becomes very repetitive.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest issues in sports today, especially in contact sports is the issue over concussions. Not only are concussions very dangerous, but what makes them so scary is that they are sometimes very hard to detect as well. There are signs and symptoms that can show if a concussion has occurred or not, but it is a grey area to determine exactly the degree of severity of the concussion. In this article, it starts to describe that there is a new technique that uses the microRNA that is measured in the saliva of the concussion patients that are found to be able to identify concussion and more importantly determines of length of the symptoms. This makes the concussion protocol less subjective and having a more definitive way to diagnose and therefore treat patients that have suffered from a concussion. In the past, it has been tried to do the same approach but using proteins that are found in the blood and because of a variety of different complications, this technique has not always been as reliable. Being able to use saliva, which is readily available, will be able to increase the likelihood of determining the pronging symptoms and also look at how long these are expected to continue in the patient.
ReplyDeleteWhen we talk about concussions, which has become a very common topic recently especially about the diagnosis, treatment and even general knowledge about concussions. This article that I read is a great example of showing that this area is always growing and we are discovering more and more every day. The discovery of the change in the spit of an athlete who has suffered from a concussion could be a very proactive way to discover that an athlete has a concussion. I believe that this will be a great discovery if it is able to be used on the sidelines of sports for athletic trainers but even if it can only be tested in hospitals it still will help with the guessing game of if you have a concussion or not. This could be implemented in high school and college sports event though this test could be expensive it wouldn’t hurt for each college or high school to own a few of these test to be able to have it when that one athlete goes down and could have a concussion . Even though it may seem farfetched for athletic trainers to have the ability to test for concussions on the spot of the injury but it is a very necessary thing to have in my own opinion. In conclusion, this test about spit could be a game change for the concussion injury of athletes but it may be costly for the college or high school but it is worth it in my own opinion.
ReplyDeleteConcussions are very common, especially in athletes. They can sometimes be difficult to diagnose and ever harder to determine the duration of this injury. The way they are diagnosed today seems to be very subjective, which is primarily conclusions based on what the patient tells you from a series of verbal tests. It would be revolutionary if concussion testing becomes more objective, and this could be made possible with saliva testing. Doing the lab work to analyze the microRNAs for every person who could potentially have a concussion would take a lot of time and resources, and probably become costly. If this study is continued and proven to be true, then maybe there will eventually become a more accessible tool to read the microRNAs. Implementing this in highschool protocol would be a lot more difficult than college because high schools do not typically have the resources at hand for this type of testing. It could be implemented in colleges, especially at the division one level, because they have access to team physicians and other resources that may be able to do this testing. Using saliva could be seen as far fetched, but that is the beauty of science. Everything seems impossible and strange until it is proven to work. If this works, then it should be utilized as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteThis study is very interesting and was neat to read about. The article talks about how the presence of certain microRNAs in our saliva is a better indicator of concussions and used to better predict the length of concussions. Concussions can occur from getting hit in the head from playing sports, hitting your head in a car accident and many other scenarios. Symptoms of a concussion can include headaches, nausea, confusion and amnesia. The article states that these symptoms clear up normally in about two weeks, but ⅓ of patients will experience theses symptoms longer. Rest and no physical activity is needed for the brain to have time to heel. It is hard however, to know how long the brain needs to heal properly because symptoms may be subsided but the brain still may not be fully healed. I think this treatment option would be very beneficial to the concussion issue we have today. Hicks, from the article said that predicting the length of concussions would allow the patients to get proper care and that measuring with saliva could one day be an accurate and quick way to diagnose concussions. This new treatment would be very beneficial to the medical world and for the many people in the future that may suffer from concussions.
ReplyDeleteI think that being able to have a more accurate way to treat a concussion is needed and if testing saliva is the way to get a more accurate idea of how long a concussion will last, I think it should be done. I am not sure how you would implement this into a high school or college concussion protocols other than sending off the saliva samples to a local hospital. And with that there could be time taken to process them all because there would be so many to go through with concussions being so common nowadays. I also think that it may not be the final say in how long it will take. I feel like with anything in the medical field it can sound nice and then turn out to not be as accurate. I feel that there should be more testing before it is implemented. But I do think that if it were to work that it would be a good idea to implement it in the high school or college level. I feel this way because then it can put athletes in more of a tangible timeframe to look forward to getting out of. Also, to be able to treat the patients better because then the trainers would have a better understanding of what the athlete could do at the specific span of time due to them having an actual timeline to go off of.
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