Hundreds of thousands of earlier blog posts on this site explored the use of monitoring NSE protein levels in the blood and DTI scans as possible diagnostic tools that reveal subtle data undetectable by the high radiation CT scans. Monitoring NSE protein levels in the blood enabled doctors to uncover subtle forms of brain damage in long-time boxers, while DTI scans revealed brain damage undetectable by CT scans in military personnel exposed to non-impact explosive blasts. The recent CT scan research a vast study including over 42,000 children less than 19 years old evaluated the effectiveness of CT scans in detecting traumatic brain injury. The children had all bumped their heads or had accidents involving head impacts. About 15,000 of the sample group received CT scans, but less than a thousand of them actually detected signs of traumatic brain injury. The results of the study were published online in the September issue of The Lancet. The authors of the study included six signs to use when determining whether or not a traumatic brain injury may be suspected and tested for traumatic brain injury using a CT scan. The New York Times article on the study reported the indicators as signs of a fractured skull, altered mental states, loss of consciousness, vomiting, headaches, and out-of-character behavior. The principal investigator of the study, Dr. Nathan Kupperman, urged doctors to search for one or more of the six indicators of traumatic brain injury before blindly prescribing thousands more of unnecessary CT scans. (pic from dbtechno.com)
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