The Patriot Ledger at SouthofBoston.com Page 1 of 3 Search southofboston.com Tues., Nov. 22, 2005 LOCAL NEWS | SPORTS | LIFE & LEISURE | OPINION DEATH NOTICES | SPECIAL REPORTS Web | ARCHIVES Full Forecast LATEST NEWS THE PATRIOT LEDGER THE ENTERPRISE OLD COLONY MEMORIAL AP WORLD & NATIONAL NEWS LOCAL WEATHER CLASSIFIEDS Announcements Automotive Employment Merchandise Real Estate Rentals Recreation Services Yard Sales Place an Ad MORTGAGE CENTER DEATH NOTICES Patriot Ledger Enterprise Old Colony Memorial HOME DELIVERY Patriot Ledger Enterprise Local Town Newspapers LOCAL GUIDES Dining/Entertainment Business Profiles Home & Garden Online Yellow Pages PLYMOUTH GUIDE STUDYING THE IMPACT: New test helps diagnose the severity of high school athletes’ head injuries By JOE McGEE The Patriot Ledger HINGHAM - High school athletes from Hingham and Weymouth are taking part in a new program that measures the severity of head injuries. ImPact, a cognitive test developed by the University of Pittsburgh, was administered through South Shore Hospital to hundreds of football and soccer players before the fall season. Several other South Shore schools have been involved to different degrees. The program takes a baseline measurement of each student’s cognitive abilities by putting them through a 30minute battery of questions. A score is given. If the player suffers a head blow that trainers are concerned about, the student retakes the test. The injured student would be allowed back on the field only when test results indicate that cognitive ability has been recovered. Hingham soccer player Sean Fitzmaurice described the test as a series of fairly difficult questions that he couldn’t complete after a jarring head shot. ‘‘It’s like lasting memory: How long you can keep something in your brain. It was pretty hard,’’ he said. SPECIAL SECTIONS Living Well/Health News Wedding/Bridal Education & Training ONLINE PERSONALS Dr. Robert Driscoll, a general surgeon who is overseeing the ImPact study at South Shore, said the program is being promoted by leading trauma experts throughout the country and is used in all the major professional sports leagues. SOUTHOFBOSTON.COM Archive Contact Us Work for Us Newspapers in Education Home Page A simpler evaluation of rating head injuries on a scale from 1 to 3 is still used by trainers when a student comes off the field after having their ‘‘bell rung.’’ But using that method alone is ‘‘woefully inadequate’’ in determining an athlete’s health, Driscoll said. The Patriot Ledger 400 Crown Colony Drive P.O. Box 699159 Quincy, MA 02269-9159 (617) 786-7000 CONTACT US ‘‘We found that that categorization didn’t determine the true extent of injury, because unlike a common knee injury, you can’t see the results of a concussion with a CAT scan or an MRI,’’ said Driscoll, whose son Austin plays football for Hingham High School. The effects of a mild concussion can cause irritability, personality change, fatigue and sleep difficulties, symptoms that can last beyond the point when athletes are allowed to http://www.patriotledger.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/news03.txt SPECIAL FEATURES IRAQ • Photos • Week in Review PRO BASKETBALL HOCKEY NASCAR 2005 COLLEGE FOOTBALL WORLD NEWS U.N.: More hungry in Africa than in '90s Complaints of Mexican police torture down NATIONAL NEWS Univ. of Kansas takes up creation debate Challenger to seek Detroit mayor recount Woman arrested in train death of toddler Holiday travelers face more complex travel Skull of Green River murder victim found SPORTS Marlins threaten to move by 2008 McCray keys No. 23 Maryland to victory Fischer doing 'very well' after collapsing ENTERTAINMENT Carey wins favorite female artist award Koppel bidding farewell to 'Nightline' Bart dispenses creepiness on 'Housewives' MORE WORLD & US 11/22/2005 The Patriot Ledger at SouthofBoston.com play again. And the more concussions someone suffers, the more prone they are to future head injuries, making a proper diagnosis crucial. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 33,154 head injuries among high school and youth sport football and soccer players last year. Mike Battaglia, a Hingham football player, is the type of kid researchers worry about. Whenever he suffers a head blow he doesn’t let his coach know if it isn’t too bad, he said. ‘‘You just get up and get into the next play,’’ he said. Driscoll said that tough attitude is probably common but potentially dangerous. ‘‘We should be advocating for these kids on the field and in the classroom because many times they don’t want to tell their coaches when they’re hurt,’’ he said. Only a couple of Hingham and Weymouth athletes have needed to take the ImPact retest this year, according to athletic trainers. Hingham trainer Al Blaisdell said that before this year he’d grade an athlete’s injury and then keep a close eye on their academic performance and how they deal with light activity. Now he has the ability to pinpoint the steps to recovery. The program can be accessed through school computer labs. Students simply log on with a user name and password to open their profiles. ImPact allows doctors to send data to Pittsburgh, where neurologists will interpret scores and offer consultation if there is uncertainty about someone’s condition. ‘‘It’s very valuable because now you get to see with head injuries the impact of that injury and we have information for the doctor,’’ Blaisdell said. Weymouth athletic trainer Stephen DeFranc said running each student through the initial questioning can be timeconsuming but ‘‘well worth it.’’ Page 2 of 3 NEWS: POLITICS BUSINESS HEALTH TECHNOLOGY AP INTERACTIVE Thanksgiving Recipes Asian Earthquake The Hurricanes • Hurricane Tracker • Rebuilding New Orleans The Supreme Court CIA Leak Investigation The Life of Rosa Parks Tracking Avian Flu Fighting the Flu Companies Defaulting on 9/11 Loans Top Magazine Covers Ipod Video Player Oil Crunch Katrina's Aftermath U.S. Base Closings Map Pope Benedict XVI Freedom of Information Act Iraq War Casualties Database ‘‘It saves the kids from going back too soon or being out too long. I think it’s extremely accurate and the best tool to use to determine signs and symptoms of a concussion,’’ he said. Driscoll is president of the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Norfolk south district and a member of the society’s adolescent health and sports medicine committee. He is also a member of U.S. Lacrosse and has given talks to national audiences about the benefits of ImPact. ‘‘It has proven to be more clinically reliable than anything before,’’ Driscoll said. ‘‘Now we’re giving pediatricians or primary care physicians some real hard guidelines on what to do when a student suffers a concussion,’’ he said. ImPact says that Whitman-Hanson Regional High School and Thayer Academy also use its services. Driscoll said South Shore has tested athletes from Scituate and East Bridgewater but would like more schools to get involved. Hingham Sports Partnership and Weymouth boosters funded proctoring of the tests for its athletes, which cost each school about $600. Installation of the ImPact software and consultations with the University of Pittsburgh were paid for through a grant from South Shore Hospital. 11,393 - head injuries from football in a sports or recreation area http://www.patriotledger.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/news03.txt 11/22/2005 The Patriot Ledger at SouthofBoston.com Page 3 of 3 9,038 - head injuries from football in a school 10,563- head injuries from soccer in a sports or recreation area 2,159 head injuries from soccer in a school 33,153 total head injuries from soccer or football Joe McGee may be reached at jmcgee@ledger.com. Copyright 2005 The Patriot Ledger Transmitted Wednesday, November 02, 2005 CONTACT US The Patriot Ledger, 400 Crown Colony Drive P.O. Box 699159, Quincy, MA 02269-9159 Telephone: (617) 786-7000 http://www.patriotledger.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/news03.txt 11/22/2005