A blood biomarker in people who have had concussions may be just as accurate at predicting the severity of the injury and how long it will last as biomarkers that are obtained through more expensive and invasive tests, according to a study published in the July 8, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study looked at a biomarker called neurofilament light chain, a nerve protein that can be detected in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid when nerve cells are injured or die. Researchers found that the amount of the biomarker in the athletes’ blood was similar to the level in their spinal fluid. Researchers were also able to accurately predict based on the participants’ biomarker levels whether they had no concussions, concussions less than a year before or concussions more than a year before.
Read more at: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/aaon-sbt070720.php