Abbott has launched its portable whole blood test for assessing suspected mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI/concussions) in the UK.
Tests for assessing concussions have historically only been authorised for use with blood plasma or serum, meaning samples first need to be sent to a lab for testing.
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Abbott’s i-STAT Alinity testing instrument comes in the form of a handheld console venous whole blood samples on Abbott’s i-STAT TBI cartridge are placed into.
Suitable for evaluating patients 18 years and above with suspected concussions up to 24 hours post-injury, the test measures two brain-specific biomarkers that are released into the bloodstream following a traumatic brain injury, yielding lab-quality results within 15 minutes.
Abbott stated that the instrument enables testing to be performed in a broad range of healthcare settings beyond hospital emergency departments where moderate complexity tests are typically performed.
According to Abbott, the test results alongside other clinical information can determine the next best steps for patient care and help rule out the need for a CT scan of the head. By contrast, concussion assessment has historically relied on the Glasgow Coma Scale, a subjective assessment performed by doctors, and CT scans to determine whether a concussion has caused any damage to the brain tissue.
Clinicians have needed a test to objectively assess patients with concussion, said Abbott’s diagnostics business medical director Dr Beth McQuiston, pointing out that many other diseases or organs in the body are already availed of blood tests to “help assess what’s happening”.
“Now, we have a whole blood test that can help assess the brain right at the patient’s bedside – expanding access to more health providers and therefore patients,” said McQuiston. “We know this test has the potential to forever change how concussion and mTBI evaluations are conducted moving forward.”
Evaluating the feasibility of Abbott’s test
UK-based charity the East Anglian Air Ambulance is currently evaluating Abbott’s test, alongside existing protocols, on patients at risk of traumatic brain injury as part of a 12-month study.
Describing head trauma as a “disease of time”, Dr James Price, consultant emergency physician at the East Anglian Air Ambulance, said that measuring brain biomarkers at the scene of an accident may support its specialist teams by informing critical diagnostic decisions in real-time, thereby ensuring that a patient is transferred to a hospital best-suited to their needs, opposed to one that is nearest.
Price said: “While our initial study will assess the feasibility of measuring blood biomarkers in the hyper-acute phase of care, we hope if successful, this test will be used to improve the pre-hospital care for patients who have suffered traumatic brain injury.”
Abbott’s test was developed in collaboration with the US Department of Defense US Army Medical Research and Development Command’s US Army Medical Materiel Development Activity organisation.
According to the UK Government’s Research and Innovation Council (UKRI), there are around 900,000 accident and emergency attendances with a head injury annually in the UK, with 160,000 people with suspected head injuries admitted to hospital each year.
