Researchers from Alberta universities patent urine-based analysis to diagnose concussions
Concussions have become one of the largest issues in sports, affecting not just professional athletes but also youth playing at minor levels.
Protocols have changed the way many contact sports are now being played and make it difficult to figure out how long injured players should sit out, according to Football Alberta executive director Tim Enger.
"It's one thing to diagnose or think that a person has a concussion, but it's quite another thing to determine when it's safe for them to get back in the game," Enger told CTV News.
Fortunately, researchers from the University of Lethbridge and the University of Calgary have been approved for a provisional patent on a test that will quickly diagnose concussions in individuals using a urine sample.
The new test examines a panel of 18 very small and specific urinary molecules called metabolites, according to Dr. Gerlinde Metz, a professor of neuroscience at the u of L and one of the researchers working on the project.
"We've been analyzing those samples to identify those biomarkers, or in this case metabolites, that generate a metabolic signature linked to traumatic brain injury. In particular, concussions," she said.
The samples came from 16-year-old hockey players collected by U of C researcher, Dr. Chantel Debert.
Metz says the results don't just stop at diagnosing brain trauma.
"With further testing, we can also say if someone had recovered from their injury and is able to move on with their lives," she said.
One of the long-term goals is to make the technology available for field use, to test whether someone has suffered a concussion or brain injury with increased accuracy.
"The idea where you can have more medical certainty toward kids getting back on the field is welcome news because that's one of the areas that we'll always need to be very cognitive of," said Enger.
"It's great to know that there's some progress being made in some actual determination for when it's safe for the kids to get back in action."
Tony Montina works with the U of L department of chemistry and biochemistry, and is director of the Magnetic Resonance Facility, as well as part of the research group.
He is excited about the fact that this new test could also lay out a rehabilitation plan.
"We'd look for changes in levels to tell us how well a therapy is working, allowing for targeted therapeutics to speed up the recovery process for athletes," he said.
"So this would allow us to make sure athletes have truly recovered prior to coming back rather than using a subjective survey-based test of symptoms."
Down the road, Montina believes this urinary test will be useful in identifying biomarkers for other conditions including strokes, Alzheimer's and even brain cancer.
"The idea of personalized, bedside, in the clinic medicine becomes possible through the development of this technology," said Montina.
"So it opens up hundreds and hundreds of doors to other routines that can be carried out at the clinic in that personalized fashion."
The work surrounding this research is still in the early stages but the provisional patent will help allow them to continue to run tests on a much wider group of people to determine certain parameters for age, gender and even different neurological conditions.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.