News
Biomarker study will define TBI and PTSD
Dr. Charles Marmar of the NYU Langone Center has received a $17 million grant from the Steven A. and Alexandra M. Cohen Foundation to search for biomarkers which can clearly identify Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD. Dr. Marmar wants to define specific biomarkers which can be used to diagnose brain injury and psychiatric disorders like PTSD, an improvement beyond our current approach. Dr. Marmar and his colleagues are looking to put the diagnosis of TBI and PTSD on par with the diagnosis of a cardiac disease in which biologic characteristics can be identified. With Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE we have just observed an advance in early identification of tau plaques and tangles, when prior diagnosis was made at autopsy. Dr. Marmar’s five year study will look for additional biomarkers and ones which can assist with earlier detection of PTSD and brain injuries.
Dr. Marmar’s study will be based on five groups of veterans, including a non-symptomatic group, and will use different search parameters in each group to locate biological and/or structural changes to the brains of individuals with PTSD, TBI or both. As more veteran’s return home and experience difficulty with the myriad, and sometimes overlapping symptoms found in PTSD and TBI, Dr. Marmar’s study may allow for definitive recognition and treatment.
Click here to read the New York Times summary of Dr. Marmar’s study:
Tag lines: Charles Marmar, MD, PTSD and TBI, biomarkers for TBI, diagnose PTSD
