Diagnosing Traumatic Brain Injury
September is National Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Awareness Month. Even if you're not familiar with the term "traumatic brain injury", you're probably familiar with the term "concussion", a common form of TBI. Concussions have received a lot of attention recently due to the rising awareness within the NFL and the passing of concussion laws for youth and school athletes in all 50 states.
The conversation is important because concussions can alter the way the brain functions. Early research shows that a developing child’s or adolescent’s brain is even more vulnerable to impact than an adult brain.
When to turn to medical imaging
If you notice symptoms, such as a severe headache, seizures, repeated vomiting or other worsening issues, medical imaging may be the appropriate next step, so it’s important to talk to your medical provider. The first diagnostic test will likely be a CT scan in order to look for bleeding or swelling. Your doctor may also order an MRI scan to look for injury to the brain tissue. At Insight Imaging in Los Gatos, we also offer new technology that helps measure brain volume and structure. This exam is called a NeuroQuant® exam. NeuroQuant gives our specialized radiologists quantitative measurements of various structures within your brain. Those measurements are then compared with a database of healthy individuals of the same age and gender. This gives your provider more information to help diagnose neurological conditions such as TBI. To learn more about how a NeuroQuant exam works, click here.
Talk to your medical provider about the best next steps for you.
Hear one athlete's story about her road to recovery
It's your choice where to go for medical imaging
If your provider orders an imaging exam, ask for Insight Imaging.