FineGaze is able to assess in an easy and practical way oculomotor dysfunctions. Its applications are wide and it can be used for many different fields. To provide its validity this unique technology will have to be assessed in specific clinical trials. One of the applications is sport, industrial and military trauma. In particular, FineGaze will be focusing on becoming a new simple tool to assess concussion in a non-invasive way. Concussion is a form of mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), defined as a complex pathophysiologic process induced by direct or indirect impulsive forces to the head that disrupts the brain’s functions (1). Due to the deficiency of normative data for clinical tests, the absence of well-established validated biomarkers, the highly variable post-injury symptom presentation, and the lack of uniformity regarding concussion definition, concussions remain one of the most complex injuries in sports medicine to diagnose and subsequently manage (2–4). This complexity can result in difficulty in understanding the recovery process following injury and may factor into why athletes are developing persistent post-concussion symptoms (3,5,6).
Sports-Related Concussion (SRC) has become a public health problem, with an estimated 1.6 to 3.8 million SRCs each year in the United States (7). In a recent multicentre cross-sectional study, 30.5% of athletes reported a previously undiagnosed concussion (8).
FineGaze offers a portable objective tool able to assess athletes on pitch and to help the rather complex diagnostic procedure of concussion. This tool will be direct to non- specialists and it would be rather inexpensive compared to other tools currently available.
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3. Feddermann-Demont N, Echemendia RJ, Schneider KJ, Solomon GS, Hayden KA, Turner M, et al. What domains of clinical function should be assessed after sport-related concussion? A systematic review. Br J Sports Med. 2017 Jun;51(11):903–18.
4. McCrory P, Meeuwisse WH, Aubry M, Cantu B, Dvorák J, Echemendia RJ, et al. Consensus statement on concussion in sport: the 4th International Conference on Concussion in Sport held in Zurich, November 2012. Br J Sports Med. 2013 Apr;47(5):250–8.
5. Iverson GL, Gardner AJ, Terry DP, Ponsford JL, Sills AK, Broshek DK, et al. Predictors of clinical recovery from concussion: a systematic review. Br J Sports Med. 2017 Jun;51(12):941–8.
6. Zemek R, Barrowman N, Freedman SB, Gravel J, Gagnon I, McGahern C, et al. Clinical Risk Score for Persistent Postconcussion Symptoms Among Children With Acute Concussion in the ED. JAMA. 2016 Mar 8;315(10):1014–25.
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8. Meehan WP, Mannix RC, O’Brien MJ, Collins MW. The prevalence of undiagnosed concussions in athletes.Clin J Sport Med Off J Can Acad Sport Med. 2013 Sep;23(5):339–42.