mTBI

Structural abnormalities in children's brains persist in children and teens for months after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion, even when symptoms have cleared and results on neurocognitive tests have returned to normal, finds a sobering new study in the Journal of Neuroscience.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has named MomsTEAM's expert sports concussion neuropsychologist Rosemarie Scolaro Moser, Ph.D., to its Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Panel of Expertm which will develop clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and management of mTBI.  

Emergency medicine provider use the 15-point Glasgow Coma Scale to determine level of consciousness based on responses to various stimuli.  Patients with suspected concussive injury are categorized  as having mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) if they score a 14-15 on on the GCS, but the scale is not useful in assessing the severity of concussion or how long recovery will take, so that the terms mTBI and concussion should not be used interchangeably, says William P. Meehan, III, MD, MomsTeam concussion medicine expert and author of Kids, Sports, and Concussions.

Labeling a child's head injury a "concussion" may convey the wrong message to parents, athletes and athletic trainers about its seriousness, say the authors of a 2010 Canadian study.