The last time a helmet saved my life, I certainly wasn't feeling right for some time. I was dizzy, to say the least, but did I have a concussion? I don't know, and that's a problem in motorcycle racing. I continued to ride that day, but if I'd had Abbott's rapid blood test for concussion evaluation on hand, I might've been told to go to the Emergency Room.
Thankfully, riders in MotoAmerica won't ever be in the position I was, as it's now the first organization to use Abbott's rapid blood test for concussion evaluation on-site at races. And it should revolutionize the care given to riders post-crash.
Abbott's test, the i-STAT TBI test cartridge, is used to evaluate patients 18 years of age and older who present with suspected mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). It provides results in just 15 minutes and may be used up to 24 hours after injury to help determine the need for a CT scan. Until now, the standard of care for concussions has relied on subjective examinations, but now, objective, concrete results will be on hand in minutes.
