A smartphone video app can be used to evaluate concussion patients for recovery and measure compounding injuries, a new study found.
The app, Reflex, identifies biomarkers that might be used in clinical diagnosis, treatment and decision-making for concussions, said lead author Dr Frederick Carrick, professor of neurology at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. "Physicians have measured pupillary light reflex (PLR) since the earliest time of recorded history. It is only recently that advances in technology have allowed us to quantify it accurately. This is the largest study of concussion and PLR to date."
Reflex was developed by Purdue Foundry-affiliated startup Brightlamp, and works like a pupilometer by recording video of the eye and measuring the PLR in response to a light flash. A retrospective clinical review of patients cared for in neurological clinics showed the PLR variables of latency, maximum pupil diameter, minimum pupil diameter, maximum constriction velocity and the 75% recovery time correlated with significant differences between patients with concussion and those without.
“The metrics obtained from the PLR can assist in determining whether a patient has suffered a concussion regardless of symptomatology,” authors wrote. “As a physiological measurement, the PLR is not affected by subjective interpretation and might be incorporated as a valuable biomarker of brain functional status.”
The study was published by Life. For more, see www.eyeonoptics.co.nz/articles/archive/quick-pupil-test-for-concussion
