Quantitative assessment of post-concussion syndrome following mild traumatic brain injury using robotic technology

Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS) is a common sequelae of mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI). Currently, there is no reliable test to determine which patients will develop PCS following an mTBI. As a result, clinicians are challenged to identify patients at high risk for subsequent PCS. Hence, there is a need to develop an objective test that can guide clinical risk stratification and predict the likelihood of PCS at the initial point of care in an Emergency Department (ED). This paper presents the results of robotic-assisted neurologic testing completed on mTBI patients in the ED and its ability to predict PCS at 3 weeks post-injury. Preliminary results show that abnormal proprioception, as measured using robotic testing is associated with higher risk of developing PCS following mTBI. In this pilot study, proprioceptive measures obtained through robotic testing had a 77% specificity (95CI: 46%-94%) and a 64% sensitivity (95CI: 41%-82%).