Emergency Department Neurocognitive Testing in mild TBI
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Emergency Department Neurocognitive Testing in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury to Predict Post-concussion Syndrome
IRAS ID
116199
Contact name
Adam Reuben
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital
Research summary
‘Post-concussion syndrome’ (PCS) is the name given to the collection of symptoms that occur following a head injury. It often results from an episode of ‘being knocked out’ although this isn’t always the case. These symptoms may be brief, mild and settle down without intervention or they may be severe, long-lasting and have an effect on every day life, needing treatment by specialist teams. PCS has been shown to contribute to a significant amount of time away from work. At present there is no reliable way of predicting which patients with ‘minor’ head injury will go on to have PCS, but the evidence suggests that it will occur in up to 1 in 3 patients. Ability to detect those patients at risk earlier would mean they can receive treatment sooner with greater likelihood of success with resolution of symptoms, and more rapid return to work. This study aims to compare two different methods for assessing patients after minor head injury in order to predict those at risk of PCS. Patients will be assessed following a minor head injury, before being sent home from the Emergency Department (ED). They will be assessed by means of a brief interview with focussed questions and simple motor tasks (the standardised assessment of concussion) and by means of a computer based test, testing amongst other things, memory and reaction time. It is postulated that this latter modality may provide a more reliable and accurate tool for assessment.
REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/EM/0232
Date of REC Opinion
18 Jun 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion