Concussion and Post Traumatic Stress in Traumatic Brain Injury

Study Summary

Mild brain injury or concussion affects about four million Americans each year. Some people recover completely while others, especially those with multiple concussions, develop chronic headaches, neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders. One of the reasons that concussion is difficult to treat is that it is difficult to detect. Radiographic studies such as CT (computed tomography scan) are by definition unrevealing of structural injury in concussed patients. Some MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) sequences may be useful adjuncts in the diagnosis of concussion but even these are not consistently present in all patients with symptoms. Clinical tests for concussion often require baseline studies, and thus are generally reserved for athletes and others at highest risk for concussion. The investigators have developed a novel eye movement tracking algorithm performed while subjects watch television or a music video that determines whether the eyes are moving together (conjugate) or are subtly not together (disconjugate). The investigators preliminary data shows that people with lesions in their brain or recovering from brain injury have disconjugate gaze that is not detectable by ophthalmologic examination but is detected by our algorithm.