"Mapping blood flow in the brain of athletes using an advanced form of ultrasound may make it easier to more accurately recognize concussions according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurologys th Annual Meeting https in Vancouver Canada April  to  .  There is growing evidence that concussions can change the blood flow in the brain said study author Robert Hamilton PhD cofounder of Neural Analytics in Los Angeles Calif. and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. While such changes may be detected with MRI we believe there may be a less expensive and portable way to measure these changes with a transcranial Doppler TCD device.    More than one million athletes experience a concussion each year in the United States. TCD uses ultrasound to map blood flow activity in the brain. Traditionally it has measured variables like the speed and variability pulse of blood flowing through the arteries. But those measurements havent been enough to accurately detect concussion.  For this study researchers used an advanced version of TCD ultrasound to get a more complete picture of just how the blood moves through the middle cerebral artery one of the three major arteries in the brain. Researchers compared a group of  high school athletes in contact sports who had been recently diagnosed with a concussion to a control group of  high school student athletes from both contact and noncontact sports. Examples of collision sports included in the study were football soccer basketball hockey water polo and lacrosse. The noncontact sports included were cheerleading cross country cycling tennis and track. Both the control and concussion groups were approximately  percent female. Each of the concussed athletes had their brain blood flow measured with the advanced ultrasound headset within an average of six days after the injury. They were also given a general concussion evaluation and had their blood pressure checked. The study found that the advanced version of TCD ultrasound was able to differentiate between healthy and concussed athletes  percent of the time. This is in contrast to traditional TCD ultrasound measurements like change in cerebral blood flow reactivity which differentiated between the two  percent of the time average blood flow speed which differentiated  percent of the time and blood flow resistance which differentiated  percent of the time. This research suggests that this advanced form of ultrasound may provide a more accurate diagnosis of concussion said Hamilton. While more research is needed the hope is such a tool could one day be used on the sidelines to help determine more quickly whether an athlete needs further testing. This important work provides insight into a tool that may yet prove useful in the recognition and management of concussion said Jeffrey Kutcher MD FAAN with the The Sports Neurology Clinic in Brighton Michigan. The potential of having an accessible technology that detects a physiological change following brain trauma is very exciting. However what these detected blood flow changes mean to a patients clinical care is still unclear. This is an important area of research. Testing of the TCD technique at the sideline at the time of injury will be an important next step to determine its ultimate utility said Randolph S. Marshall MD MS with Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York and a member of the American Academy of Neurologys Science Committee. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Learn more about concussion at  http where you can access the AANs Sports Concussion Guideline QuickCheck app and other resources. The American Academy of Neurology an association of  neurologists and neuroscience professionals is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patientcentered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimers disease stroke migraine multiple sclerosis brain injury Parkinsons disease and epilepsy. For more information about the American Academy of Neurology visit http or find us on Facebook http Twitter httptwitter.com Google httptinyurl.comvzda and YouTube http SOURCE American Academy of Neurology Related Links http"