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Abstract
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We thank the authors1 for commenting on our manuscript entitled "A scoping review of registered clinical studies on concussion and mild traumatic brain injury (2000-2019)."2 We are pleased to be given the opportunity to respond to their comments, criticisms, and their mini-review of additional small databases not included in our paper, which by design was confined to clinicaltrials.gov, the world's largest clinical trial database to which trial authors in any country can contribute. We will herein deal with their criticisms of a "gap" in our review and that their mini-review represents an improvement.
The commentators1 begin by agreeing with us about the importance of a clear definition of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and concussion in future research studies and clinical practice. Our review stressed the importance of clear definitions to aid those who care for patients with mTBI/concussion and seek updated evidence-based medical information to maximize the patients' neurological and functional recovery, and quality of life. In the field of brain trauma, the terms "mild traumatic brain injury" and "concussion" are often used interchangeably in the medical literature and clinical practice even though the perceptions and stigma associated with each term may have distinct implications for consumers, as we indicated in our review paper.2-4 We acknowledge that there is still a debate in the literature between those who claim concussion is the constellation of symptoms that can arise from any TBI and those who argue that concussion is "a distinct pathophysiological entity with its own diagnostic and management implications."5 As we stated, concussion describes a more homogenous group of patients than mTBI does, and we endorse that researchers should agree to use the definition of concussion that excludes all lesions identified by routine structural imaging, including computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The commentators1 included their own review of 6 other databases in other countries comprising 57 additional studies in mTBI/concussion to add to the 320 studies we reported. This added some valuable information within...
Language: en |