NCT02119533

Concussion and Post Traumatic Stress in Traumatic Brain Injury

Prospective Study of Concussion and PTSD in Structurally Brain Injured, Non-Structurally Brain Injured and Non-Brain Injured Trauma Victims in Bellevue HHC

• Status: Terminated
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 1 (actual)
• Sponsor: NYU Langone Health · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 5 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

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.

Detailed description

The purpose of this study is to test the validity of this eye tracking algorithm for detecting structural (visible on CT scan) and non-structural (concussive) brain injury. The study will recruit brain injured subjects and non-brain injured controls from the Bellevue Hospital Emergency Department and neurosurgery services for eye-tracking as well as studies that assess the extent of brain injury. The investigators will determine if disconjugate gaze on eye tracking is significantly associated with abnormal functional, neuro-cognitive, and psychiatric outcomes. The investigators hypothesize that individuals who demonstrate sustained disconjugate gaze on the eye tracking task from the time of injury to 1 month will have elevated functional impairment in multiple domains of life (work, interpersonal relationships), will be poor performers on neuro-cognitive tasks (working memory, executive functioning, verbal memory, impulsivity), and will be significantly more symptomatic of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression than those who demonstrate conjugate eye tracking in the normal range at one month. Achievement of the investigators aims will provide the first evidence that eye tracking is a valid physiologic outcome measure for brain injury.

Conditions

• Concussion
• Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

Timeline

• Start date: 2013-05-01
• Primary completion: 2016-02-01
• Completion: 2016-02-01
• First posted: 2014-04-21
• Last updated: 2017-11-07

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States