Tracking Repeated Concussion Injuries Among NFL players with PET Scans

A wide variety of tests can be used to determine if a patient has brain injury, and PET (positron emission tomography) is one of them. PET scanning technology relies on the fact that the brain stores glucose, and by tagging the glucose inside the brain with a radioactive tracer, the PET scanner can identify the areas of the brain where glucose is underutilized.

With PET scans being a useful imaging tool for brain injuries, experts now believe that it can be an indispensable tool in monitoring the brains of NFL players and athletes in other contact sports. Recently, scientists discovered that they can use PET scans to look for brain injury and repair markers in the brains of active and retired NFL players.

According to Jennifer Coughlin, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, the scientists believe that in PET scans, they have “a useful tool to monitor the brains of NFL players and athletes in other contact sports.”

MRI and Its Many Applications: Using MRI in Diagnosing Blood Clots

Deep vein thrombosis, more popularly known as a blood clot, is a type of clump that occurs when the blood hardens and turns solid or semi-solid. It can be caused by poor dietary habits, injuries, or an infected body part. It causes vascular obstruction, and could prove dangerous if not treated in a timely manner. Blood clot can be present in different areas of the body like the arm, leg, heart, abdomen, and lungs.

How physicians diagnose blood clots

When diagnosing a blood clot in a patient, the physician considers the individual’s risk factors, symptoms, and test results of the imaging method used to see the clot. Possible imaging tools used to detect blood clots include Doppler ultrasound, veneography, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), MRA (magnetic resonance angiography), and CT (computerized typography) scans, and the D-dimer blood test.