Teleconcussion--A New, Innovative Strategy for Assessing Young Athletes

Nov. 8, 2012 - PRLog -- Contact: Vicki Cohn, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., (914) 740-2100, vcohn@liebertpub.com

Teleconcussion--A New, Innovative Strategy for Assessing Young Athletes

New Rochelle, NY—Concussion is a common disorder estimated to affect no fewer than 1.7-3.8 million people in the U.S. each year. Many more people with concussion likely do not seek medical care for symptoms of concussion and may suffer long-lasting, progressive, and profoundcognitive, psychiatric, and neurologic effects. The first use of teleconcussion, a novel solution for management and follow-up of a concussed athlete with remote access technology, is described in an article published in Telemedicine and e-Health, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free on the Telemedicine and e-Health website (http://www.liebertpub.com/tmj).

In the article “Teleconcussion: An Innovative Approach to Screening, Diagnosis, and Management of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury,” (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/tmj.2012.0118) Bert Vargas, MD and colleagues, Mayo Clinic Arizona--Neurology (Phoenix), present a case study in which telemedicine is used to assess and manage a high school athlete who had begun to resume physical activity following a concussion, in advance of accepted return-to-play guidelines. As in many states, Arizona law mandates that players of interscholastic sports removed from competitions for suspicion of having a concussion require formal clearance by a specially trained healthcare provider before returning to play. The use of telemedicine networks to facilitate timely access to subspecialty care can help ensure the health and safety of rural student-athletes.

"The ability to identify a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) soon after it is sustained, whether on the battlefield or the sports field, is of great importance and high utility,” says Charles R. Doarn, MBA, one of the Editors-in-Chief of the Journal and Research Professor of Family and Community Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Ohio. "The integration of ‘teleconcussion’ and Vargas et al.’s work can add great value to this very important field."

About the Journal
Telemedicine and e-Health (http://www.liebertpub.com/tmj) is an Official Journal of the American Telemedicine Association, the Canadian Telehealth Forum of COACH, and the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth. Edited by Ronald C. Merrell, MD, Professor of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, and Charles Doarn, MBA, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Telemedicine and e-Health is the leading international, peer-reviewed journal combining medicine, telecommunications, and information technology. Published 10 times a year in print and online, the Journal covers telemedicine applications that are playing an increasingly important role in health care and provides tools that are indispensable for home health care, remote patient monitoring, and disease management. It encompasses not only rural health and battlefield care, but nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and maritime and aviation applications. Tables of content and a free sample issue may be viewed on the Telemedicine and e-Health website(http://www.liebertpub.com/tmj).

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com) is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Population Health Management, Games for Health Journal, and Journal of Laparoendoscopic Surgery and Advanced Surgical Techniques. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website (http://www.liebertpub.com).