WUSM doctors use neurocognitive test to quickly identify concussions

In most hospital emergency rooms, patients with head injuries typically receive computed tomography (CT) scans to assess the damage. But brain injuries that lead to concussions rarely show up as abnormalities on such scans. So Washington University physicians at Barnes Hospital's Charles F. Knight Emergency and Trauma Center have decided to go one step further. They are the only doctors in the St. Louis area who give a simple neurocognitive test to head injury patients to quickly identify concussions.

WUSM physicians are the only doctors in the St. Louis area who give a simple neurocognitive test to head injury patients to quickly identify concussions.

Rosanne Naunheim, M.D., associate professor of emergency medicine, has determined that the one-page test can identify cognitive deficits caused by a concussion. She has discovered that many of these patients have no short-term memory, in addition to other cognitive problems. Identifying these problems is important, Naunheim says, because they may indicate that a patient should take a break from sports or from school and might need therapy. Naunheim also hopes that coaches can be trained to administer the test, which takes only a few minutes, on the sidelines to determine whether injured players can return to a game or need further evaluation.