Diagnosis of Mild TBI and Concussion
Mild TBI / Concussion is a clinical diagnosis
- Healthcare professionals should not routinely obtain head computed tomography (CT) for diagnostic purposes in children with mTBI
- Use validated clinical decision rules to identify children with mTBI at low risk for intracranial injury in whom head CT is not indicated (e.g. Paediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) (further details)
- Do not routinely use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the acute evaluation of suspected or diagnosed mTBI
- Skull radiographs should not be used in the diagnosis of paediatric mTBI
Symptom scales can help assess mTBI
- Healthcare professionals should use an age-appropriate, validated symptom rating scale as a component of the diagnostic evaluation in children seen with acute mTBI
- These include the Post Concussion Symptom Inventory and the Health and Behaviour Inventory and can be downloaded from this website
- The Standardized Assessment of Concussion (as used in the SCAT5) should not be exclusively used to diagnose mTBI in children aged 6 to 18 years
- Biomarkers are currently used only in a research setting