With record numbers of American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with brain injuries, a case study from Neuro Kinetics, Inc (NKI) suggests that tests utilizing its I-Portal NOTC (Neuro-Otologic Test Center) system can generate results that may indicate mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) that are not detected by other evaluation technologies.

NKI manufactures non-invasive medical test equipment used worldwide in the evaluation of balance, vestibular and neurological disorders.

The details of the new case study are available on NKI's Web site (click here). The findings are being presented today at an American Balance Society conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The paper's authors are Brian J McKinnon, assistant professor, Otology/Neurotology, Department of Otolaryngology-head & Neck Surgery, Medical College of Georgia; Alex Kiderman, NKI's chief technology officer; and Terri E Ives, ScD, AuD, F-AAA, CCC-A, NKI's clinical director - audiology.

The case study features unique pre- and post-accident neuro-otologic test data gathered from one individual, a NKI employee who had undergone various I-Portal NOTC evaluations as part of routine product testing and then again after he suffered a bicycle accident last year.

"The situation with our colleague presented us with a rare opportunity to evaluate a patient after an accident and then to compare those results to baseline data previously collected," explained Kiderman.

"Clinicians who deal with brain injuries will be intrigued by our findings. The I-Portal NOTC system collected data that appears to be able to indicate mild traumatic brain injuries that other evaluation methods missed," Kiderman said. "The patient in our study had undergone a CT scan after his accident, but those results were negative. The I-Portal NOTC's were not. The patient felt he was not healthy, and our results support that.

"We believe this case study may shed new light on how medical professionals can identify mild traumatic brain injuries and traumatic brain injuries," Kiderman added. "We are continuing our work in this vital area and hope that others will be encouraged by our results and will pursue additional research."

Specific tests conducted on the NKI employee before and after his accident and reported in the case study included optokinetic (OKN), spontaneous, pendular tracking, saccade, horizontal and vertical gaze, subjective visual vertical (SVV) and subjective visual horizontal (SVH), head thrust test (HTT), and sinusoidal harmonic acceleration test (SHA). The HTT test is currently investigational.