Individual symptoms after a concussion persist for years
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Scientists from La Troba University of Australia have found that some symptoms that appear after a concussion can bother the patient for many years. Specialists carried out large-scale work, thanks to which the latest diagnostic and therapeutic methods for post-commotion syndrome will be further developed.
The author of the design work was Professor Alan Pearce.
About ten percent of those patients who had a concussion subsequently receive a complication in the form of post-commotion syndrome. This is a symptom complex that persists for a long time after trauma. For example, individual symptoms may be present in a person for several weeks or months after an injury. In addition, often additional diagnostics are not performed, or an incorrect diagnosis is established.
About 80% of cases of concussion occur as a result of moderately severe traumatic injuries, the most common of which are injuries. In their new research project, specialists tried to determine how severe the symptoms of post-commotion syndrome are, and then offered their own treatment options for such patients.
Leading expert in concussion issues Alan Pearce used the latest technological methods in order to find out how successfully it is possible to recognize post-commotion syndrome, what mechanisms are triggered in this case in the body and, accordingly, which treatment methods will be especially relevant here.
Using two different technological approaches for measuring signals that are sent to and from the brain, the professor and a group of his colleagues determined the functional state of the organ. They obtained data that previously seemed completely inaccessible to research. For example, experts determined that patients suffering from post-commotion syndrome have chronic and fairly pronounced fatigue, combined with a delayed reaction. In similar works that were carried out earlier, scientists took into account only cognitive changes and used magnetic resonance imaging.
According to the researchers, the results of the project will help in the future to form new diagnostic methods for detecting post-commotion syndrome. Soon, scientists are planning to implement a new work designed to identify and study the optimal rehabilitation programs for patients. Such programs should include changes in nutrition, a certain physical activity, the implementation of special exercises to restore the corresponding brain functions.
The results of the research project were described on the website of the University of La Troba (www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2019/release/understanding-post-concussion-symptoms).