With about 20% of combat soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq suffering from mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI), medical device manufacturer Neuro Kinetics, Inc. (www.neuro-kinetics.com) next week will spotlight “promising” testing techniques to screen and monitor afflicted military personnel.
The company will present data at the September 14th-17th Battlefield Healthcare Conference (www.battlefieldhealthcare.com) in San Diego about the use of tests incorporated in its I-Portal ® NOTC (Neuro-Otologic Test Center) and I-Portal® VNG (Video Nystagmography) systems for early detection and tracking of mTBI.
Dr. Alex Kiderman, Neuro Kinetics’ chief technology officer, will report on data collected from varied sources, including a case study he co-authored suggesting that specific oculo-motor, optokinetic and vestibular tests conducted through the I-Portal systems can generate results that may identify mTBI not observable by other evaluation technologies, including MRIs.
The tests Kiderman will review include spontaneous nystagmus, pendular tracking, saccades, horizontal and vertical gaze, subjective visual vertical (SVV) and subjective visual horizontal (SVH), head thrust test (HTT), sinusoidal harmonic acceleration (SHA) and dynamic unilateral centrifugation (DUC) tests among others.
Kiderman’s case study – co-authored by Brian J. McKinnon, MD, MBA, assistant professor, Otology/Neurotology, Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Medical College of Georgia, and clinical audiologist Terri E. Ives, ScD, AuD, F-AAA, CCC-A – is available on the Neuro Kinetics Web site.
“We believe that neuro-otologic testing can be the objective and important contributor to the proper diagnosis and treatment of mTBI that returning soldiers deserve,” Kiderman said. “While we have more research to undertake, the early indications are indeed promising.”
Next week’s presentation comes as a number of U.S. military facilities have installed the I-Portal NOTC system to improve diagnosis and monitoring of returning brain-injured military personnel.
In recent months, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton in California and Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii have begun utilizing the I-Portal NOTC.
Numerous other federal government medical facilities, including those operated by the Veterans Administration and the National Institutes of Health, also rely on Neuro Kinetics’ equipment for conducting daily clinical evaluations of patients as well as undertaking a wide range of research projects.
Kiderman noted that while Neuro Kinetics is best known for its expertise in offering equipment for testing across a range of balance and vestibular disorders, the research into brain injury testing represents an important strategic goal for the company.
“We continue to expand the clinical utility of our equipment,” Kiderman said. “Helping to improve the care of brain-injured soldiers is a top priority for us.”
Source: Neuro Kinetics
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