Could Neurotracker be used as a clinical marker of recovery following pediatric mild traumatic brain injury? An exploratory study

ABSTRACT

Primary objective: This study aimed to explore the potential for the Neurotracker, a perceptual-cognitive, multiple-object tracking test, and train paradigm, as a marker of functional recovery after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). It is hypothesized that Neurotracker could serve as a proxy for assessing cerebral functioning.

Research design: A comparative, 6 time points, longitudinal study design was used to compare Neurotracker performance between children and adolescents who were clinically recovered from mTBI and healthy controls.

Methods and Procedures: Clinical measures were collected at the initial and final visits. Neurotracker trainings were performed at each of the 6 visits. Speed thresholds (Neurotracker performance) were recorded at each visit.

Main Outcomes and Results: A two-way repeated measures ANOVA suggested no differences between the groups but a significant time effect was apparent.

Conclusions: Clinically recovered children and adolescents exhibit similar training abilities to control subjects on this task. These results support further investigations using Neurotracker as a marker of recovery following mTBI.

KEYWORDS:

• Neurotracker
• perceptual-cognitive training
• three-dimensional multiple object tracking
• Object tracking
• children
• pediatrics
• mild traumatic brain injury
• concussion
• return to activities

Acknowledgments

Authors wish to thank participants and their families as well as Lisa Grilli, Carlo Galli, Christine Beaulieu and Meghan Straub for their help.

Declaration of Interest

JF is a Scientific Officer for CogniSens, Inc. the producer of the commercial version of the 3D-MOT system used in this study. In this capacity, he holds shares in the company. The study was funded through IG’s internal funds.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.