But not all experts agree on the clinical value of the new test. In a commentary published alongside the study report, Professor Andrew Maas from Antwerp University Hospital and University of Antwerp, Belgium, and Dr. Hester Lingsma from Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands, both not involved with the study, advised that they weren't sure the test would save money or aid efficiency – or be able to detect all types of brain injury.

They noted that, "the only clinically relevant question for any new diagnostic test in mild TBI is does the test add value (e.g., better outcomes or reduced costs) to currently used biomarkers and decision rules ... Inexplicably, this evaluation was not done ... Our interpretation is that the added value of the test in clinical practice might well be small or even absent, and we strongly encourage the authors to prove us wrong. That would constitute a true addition to science and clinical practice."


But Bazarian countered, telling the Daily Mail that the test was an objective measure versus the more subjective guidelines typically used and that “the way the study was designed was that clinicians had already decided these patients should have a CT scan using their guidelines,” adding additionally, “time is money in emergency departments, so if we can cut that time down, we could save money.”

In August, 2017, TBI was in the news when a study out of the Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden and Helsingfors University Hospital in Finland, advised that the Stockholm CT score and the Helsinki CT score can better predict the progress of a patient over 6-12 months following his or her scan, compared to the Rotterdam CT and Marshall CT systems.

“As compared to Rotterdam and Marshall CT score/classification, the Stockholm and Helsinki score include so much more information present on the CT scan that I definitely believe that they will be used to properly assess injury severity in the future, as the need to properly stratify cohorts in clinical trials will increase, as well as the need for proper initial assessment in order to guide resources to the patients with the greatest need,” Dr. Eric Thelin, a researcher in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience from Karolinska Institutet and one of the authors of the study, told HCB News at the time.

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