E-Paper
KGMU plans brain injury assessment via blood test
This test would be done within a few minutes using a drop of accident victim’s blood and help the doctors take a quick call on the line of treatment even if CT scan facility isn’t available, doctors said.
In a first, the pathology department of the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) plans to introduce blood tests that can reveal level of brain injury among road accident victims.
This test would be done within a few minutes using a drop of accident victim’s blood and help the doctors take a quick call on the line of treatment even if CT scan facility isn’t available, doctors said.
The development is significant as the highest number of head injuries are reported from India. “The tests are now being introduced in India and in our institute they will be introduced in collaboration with neurosurgery department,” said Prof Wahid Ali, a senior faculty in the pathology department of KGMU.
The new tests are most useful for road accident victims who have suffered head injury. “In such cases, a quick CT scan is the best option but in its absence such tests will help in determining line of treatment. What’s more, these tests can be done by lab technicians too at any district level hospital,” said Prof Wahid.
After KGMU, these tests would be introduced in other hospitals too and professor Ali said district hospitals would also be ideally suited for these tests once the facility is successfully launched at the medical university.
Pathology tests now are not limited to blood profile but are also useful in assessing level of seriousness of those suffering with cardiac and other ailments, he said.
