Personal Injury Lawyers Are Using CT Scans to Estimate Future Treatment Needs and Disability Resulting from TBI and Concussion

August 12, 2021, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

A new study from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) “For Concussion Patients, CTs Offer Window into Recovery” uses CT scans to match brain imaging with patient prognosis. This is a useful tool for personal injury lawyers who are making cases to secure the future of their clients without the long-term prognosis being known. Brain injury can heal, linger, recur or worsen over time. As a personal injury lawyer, when we take a case we must estimate an individual’s loss of potential (cognitive, physical, emotional and earnings for example) when we make a case for someone with a concussion or TBI.

This study which examined CT scans from almost 2000 patients with a concussion or mTBI (mild traumatic brain injury) confirmed known links between CT imaging features and outcomes in moderate and severe TBI but for the first time established a link with concussion as well.

“Radiologists who routinely read trauma scans know intuitively that patterns of intracranial injury on CT are not random,” said first author, Esther Yuh, MD, PhD, of the UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging. “We showed there are patterns of injury, that some of these are associated with worse outcome than others, and that they provide a window into mechanisms of injury that is reproducible across large studies.”

The study appears online in JAMA Neurology

What Did Researchers Find?

• The most common brain injury patterns shown on CT were established
• Links were made between injury types (slip and fall or blow to the head) and brain injury patterns shown on CT
• They established injury patterns that showed impairments that were unlikely to have a complete recovery after 12 months

What Does This Mean for Personal Injury Clients with TBI or Concussion?

• The study underlines the importance of seeking medical care immediately post-concussion or TBI even if the initial symptoms are mild
• It underscores the importance of the treatment of concussion and TBI and prevention of future complications

For personal injury clients who have been injured in pedestrian, bicycle, motorcycle and car accidents, workplace injuries, or slip and falls this means that CT scan results will enable medical staff to better treat and predict brain injuries. Lawyers will have more precise tools with which to hold negligent parties accountable for the injuries of clients.

If you or a loved one has had a concussion or TBI resulting from someone else’s negligence please  the experienced personal injury lawyers at Deutschmann Personal Injury and Disability Law.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

It is important that you review your accident benefit file with one of our experienced personal injury / car accident lawyers to ensure that you obtain access to all your benefits which include, but are limited to, things like physiotherapy, income replacement benefits, vocational retraining and home modifications.