Grants help McGill to head cutting-edge concussion centre
McGill University is about to become a world leader in the field of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) thanks to a new infrastructure grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation that will enable it to open a first-of-its-kind research facility focused on concussions at the Montreal General Hospital.
The university secured more CFI infrastructure funding this year than any other university across Canada — $30 million — and will take the lead on 10 exciting new projects, including researcher Morag Park’s $2.3-million grant to create new technologies for personalized approaches to treat the “cancer ecosystem” rather than just the tumour.
After being matched by the provincial government and including other partnerships, McGill’s $30 million will actually mushroom to more than $100 million of research infrastructure investment across its campus.
The grant of $3 million from the CFI for mTBIs, which will be matched by the Quebec government and boosted by donors to the MGH Foundation and the Max Pacioretty Foundation, will enable the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre to buy a state-of-the-art Ultra High Performance MRI system for $6 million that will have a resolution 64 times greater than what is currently available.
“This machine can help with detection, diagnosis and monitoring in a way we haven’t been able to do before,” said Alain Ptito, a neuropsychologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute and director of the department of psychology at the MUHC who will oversee the project. The new research facility will focus on measuring the effects of mTBI and developing innovative treatments.
Concussions have proven to be difficult injuries to diagnose. X-rays and other brain imaging often can’t detect them and MRIs are not usually ordered
by doctors unless major bleeding or brain swelling is suspected. While doctors rely on symptoms for diagnosis, many of the symptoms also occur in people without the injury. The prototype MRI machine — there is only one other in North America, in Boston — is a very sensitive tool that will allow researchers and doctors to see an inflamed brain, whereas concussions don’t typically show up on conventional MRIs, even when patients are complaining of symptoms.
Ptito said it promises to revolutionize the way mTBIs are handled and many lead to new treatments as patients will become research subjects. For example, the credibility of some people may be questioned by insurance companies when they say they are suffering om a concussion but all their scans are normal. Conversely, athletes sometimes fail to report symptoms because they are overly anxious to get back to the game, which can be dangerous.
An MRI that can detect concussions will change all that. Ptito envisions athletes having baseline imaging at the beginning of a season to help with diagnosis in the event of injury. Since there is no radiation involved, repeated-imaging to monitor the injury and covery is possible. There are 600 cases of mTBI per 10,000 people in Canada, whereas there are 20 cases of Parkinson’s disease per 100,000.
“TBIs are huge, of epidemic proportions,” Ptito said, explaining most are are result of motor-vehicle accidents. McGill student Humza Turab has suffered three concussions playing rugby and is hopeful the new centre will improve diagnosis and treatment to the future. Now in his fourth year in physiology at McGill, he has had to prolong his studies by a year because his concussions interfered with his ability to study and write exams. “I should be graduating in four days that all my friends,” he said in an interview. “You don’t have to be an athlete to get a concussion, so this is something McGill student Humza Turab has suffered three concussions playing rugby, delaying his studies by a year. that will benefit everyone.”
His first concussion, a mild one, occurred in a game in 2011. Two years ago, he was kneed in the head so severely that it took him eight months to recover. He was in a fog, couldn’t drive, “butchered” his exams and became so sensitive to bright lights he was forced to wear sunglasses at night.
Yet another concussion last fall made him realize he had to quit contact sports for good.
“You only have one brain,” he said. “I couldn’t risk it anymore. Although I really love it, rugby isn’t going to pay my bills.”
Ed Holder, minister of state for science and technology, announced the CFI grants in Ottawa on Friday. Across Canada, there was a federal investment of $333 million for research infrastructure. CFI investments fund tools and laboratories to promote discoveries and innovation, with a goal of attracting and retaining the world’s top talent.
Many of the grants are collaborative, such as a grant for $4 million shared by McGill and the Université de Montréal to create the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology at McGill’s Schulich School of Music, which promises to be the world’s leading research facility for the scientific study of live performance, movement of recorded sound in space and remote, synchronous performance.
Ptito said it will still take a year to 18 months to get the new MRI system up and running at the General. In the meantime, he is forging ahead with studying an innovative treatment for mTBIs that uses neuro modulation in the form of a stimulation of the tongue to improve the symptoms of concussion.
With 20 per cent of concussion sufferers left with chronic symptoms, he says new treatments must be found to help them. There are currently no real treatments for concussions, with doctors mainly prescribing rest and inactivity to help offset symptoms.
He is anxious to soon begin a study with 120 subjects that will examine the effectiveness of these tongue stimulators.
“I’m very hopeful this will be a way to help these people,” Ptito said. “It is non-invasive and it is the wave of the future.”