Quantitative measurement of eye and head movements for the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury and neurodegeneration

Unmet Need: A fast, objective, and scalable method to detect head titubation as an early, quantifiable biomarker for neurological injury and neurodegenerative disease

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), including concussions, remain notoriously difficult to detect due to the lack of objective, real-time diagnostic tools. These “silent injuries” often go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, contributing to long-term neurological impairment and increased healthcare burden. Current diagnostic methods rely heavily on subjective, effort-dependent assessments—such as self-reported symptoms and cognitive testing—which are vulnerable to bias from language, education level, and patient awareness. Meanwhile, tremor is a well-documented manifestation of neurodegenerative diseases and is emerging as a novel biomarker for traumatic brain injury. There is currently no standard for the use of quantitative measurement of tremor to specifically diagnose brain injury or neurodegeneration. There is no gold standard for quantifying head titubation as a diagnostic biomarker—creating a significant unmet need for an objective, precise, and easily deployable solution that could transform diagnosis, monitoring, and intervention in sports related concussion and other neurologic disorders.

The Technology: Method to detect head and eye movements for diagnosis of brain injury

This technology employs quantitative methods to simultaneously measure abnormal eye and head movements. The technology utilizes quantitative assessment of head tremor by collecting data on rapid saccadic eye movements. Consequently, the technology can enable the diagnosis of oculomotor and vestibular degeneration and can be used to determine the severity of brain injury or degeneration caused by concussions, tauopathies, and other neurodegenerative disorders.

This technology has been validated in a case-control study using human subjects with a history of brain injury.

Applications:

Diagnostic tool for acute concussion and neurodegenerative disorders
Diagnostic tool for other involuntary movement disorders
Monitoring treatment effectiveness of traumatic brain injury and neurodegeneration
Research tool for studying disorders associated with tremor and abnormal eye movements
Diagnostic tool for concussions in athletes
Clinical tool for quantifying effects of neurodegeneration
Clinical tool for determining stage and timeline for therapeutic intervention

Advantages:

Quantitative detection of head tremor and eye movement
Accurate diagnosis and assessment of brain injury severity
Enables condition monitoring and recovery time estimation
Rapid diagnosis
Enables diagnosis of oculomotor and vestibular degeneration at the time of injury

Lead Inventor:

Thomas S. Bottiglieri, D.O.

Patent Information:

Patent Pending

Tech Ventures Reference:

IR CU21135
Licensing Contact: Joan Martinez