Building upon years of research, a new study from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has demonstrated how a specific assessment of the eye could someday help properly diagnosis and monitor concussions.
In the first study of its kind, the research team demonstrated that quantitative pupillary light reflex (PLR) metrics, which determine how the pupil responds to light and are obtained by using a hand-held dynamic infrared pupillometer (DIP), and can be used to differentiate concussed adolescent athletes from healthy adolescents.
“We know the visual system is affected after a sports-related concussion, and this is something that patients can’t intentionally control or hide. The pupil’s response to light is an autonomic function with metrics easily captured via automated dynamic infrared pupillometry,” said lead author Christina L. Master, MD, co-lead of the Minds Matter Concussion Research Program and a pediatric primary care sports medicine specialist at CHOP. “We thought if PLR could distinguish between concussed and non-concussed adolescent athletes, we may have an opportunity for objective assessment where data is easily obtained via a hand-held device in clinical and sports settings.”
