The Journey of Abbott’s Blood Test for Traumatic Brain Injury to the Clinical Setting: Linda Papa, MD, MSc, CCFP, FRCP(C), FACEP

WATCH TIME: 3 minutes

"It took a village. This is something that took hundreds of scientists, the Department of Defense, the National Institute of Health, and [pharmaceutical companies]. It's an Abbott test. It took many people to get this done, and it's exciting now because we can use it clinically.”

Abbott’s i-STAT traumatic brain injury (TBI) cartridge test is a whole blood test, a portable instrument, that assesses patients aged 18 years and older who report a suspected mild TBI, known as concussions. Approved by the FDA in April 2024 at patients’ bedside, the test can assist in ruling out the need for a CT scan of the head and assist clinicians with determining the next steps of care for the patient.¹ According to the company, the test can be administered in various healthcare settings without the need for a laboratory.

In recent news, Orlando Health has become the first hospital system globally to use Abbott’s i-STAT TBI cartridge test. This rapid blood test, delivering results in approximately 15 minutes, is based on built upon research conducted by Orlando Health’s Linda Papa, MD, MSc, CCFP, FRCP(C), FACEP, and colleagues over the past 20 years. With this tool now available in the emergency department, Orlando Health’s healthcare providers can swiftly assess patients for a suspected mild TBI during critical moments when time is of the essence.²

In a recent interview, Papa, an emergency medicine physician and the director of academic clinical research at Orlando Health, sat down with NeurologyLive^® to have a discussion about how patient participation has played such a crucial role in the development of this medical technology for TBI. She also spoke about the challenges that she and her colleagues faced in the early stages of this research, and how they overcame them in the process. Furthermore, Papa talked about how the reduction in testing time from days to minutes has impacted the clinical practice for patients.

REFERENCES
1. Abbott Receives FDA Clearance for Whole Blood Rapid Test to Help with Assessment of Concussion at the Patient's Bedside. News Release. Abbott. Published April 1, 2024. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://abbott.mediaroom.com/2024-04-01-Abbott-Receives-FDA-Clearance-for-Whole-Blood-Rapid-Test-to-Help-with-Assessment-of-Concussion-at-the-Patients-Bedside
2. Orlando Health First in the World to Use Abbotts New Blood Test for Traumatic Brain Injuries. News Release. August 13, 2024. Accessed August 21, 2024. https://www.orlandohealth.com/content-hub/orlando-health-first-in-the-world-to-use-abbotts-new-blood-test-for-traumatic-brain-injuries