Pitchside Saliva Tests - Looks Good News

[Neils]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/mar/23/pitchside-saliva-tests-could-be-used-to-diagnose-concussion

[GD]

this looks like good news. I wonder how it will be implemented though and how sensitive it is. So a game based on collision it would obviously be used where there is a concern for concussion but i wonder whether it will eventually become something that we see as a routine thing for all players at half time for instance, could multiple smaller collisions accumulate, i don't know enough about the subject but theoretically there could be safe limits?

[NellyWellyWaspy]

this looks like good news. I wonder how it will be implemented though and how sensitive it is. So a game based on collision it would obviously be used where there is a concern for concussion but i wonder whether it will eventually become something that we see as a routine thing for all players at half time for instance, could multiple smaller collisions accumulate, i don't know enough about the subject but theoretically there could be safe limits?

From a safety standpoint, it should be done after every training session, immediately before a match, at half time, and after a match.

[Neils]

Caught the end of a TV article on this (think BBC Breakfast but not sure) and seemed to say it will be rolled out within two years. Obviously manufacturing may be a delay but I hope in hell it is not the RFU/PRL delaying to appraise and evaluate and pontificate!!!

[baldpaul101]

I hope in hell it is not the RFU/PRL delaying to appraise and evaluate and pontificate!!!

So you would rather they rush it in and potentially have games decided on it before anyone is confident its ready?
The people who run the game have to make sure its consistent & accurate before it goes into use & make sure sensible rules are built around it.
Look at the mess VAR is making of football because they rushed it in without understanding how it should be used best?

[RogerE]

It's definitely a conversion to manufacturing issue.

Talked to one of the BU research team and it works well in a lab environment, and some initial "production-type" tests. However the conversion to an easy to use pitch side test that is economical is what will be taking the time.

Also doesn't help that virtually all the companies that are capable of producing such a test are tied-up with COVID tests isn't helping at the moment.

He did say that all the rugby authorities are really keen to see it go live as quickly as possible - the most sceptical views seem to be on the football side.

[Neils]

I hope in hell it is not the RFU/PRL delaying to appraise and evaluate and pontificate!!!

So you would rather they rush it in and potentially have games decided on it before anyone is confident its ready?
The people who run the game have to make sure its consistent & accurate before it goes into use & make sure sensible rules are built around it.
Look at the mess VAR is making of football because they rushed it in without understanding how it should be used best?

You started to come adrift where you said " The people who run the game have to make sure" - not a very good track record all round. Let's see what independent medics say after assessing the results.

[baldpaul101]

I don't generally go in for slagging off the people who run sport. Its a very easy thing to insist that they are incompetent idiots but the fact is that ALL sports view their governing bodies in the same way. Sports governance is a horrendously difficult thing to manage, sometimes the RFU/WR/PRL get things right, sometimes they make a monumental mess of something which on the outside seems easy, but like most things in life, nothing about running a sport is ever as simple as it first appears.

Neils, you are of course entitled to your opinion, as are we all 

[Neils]

I don't generally go in for slagging off the people who run sport. Its a very easy thing to insist that they are incompetent idiots but the fact is that ALL sports view their governing bodies in the same way. Sports governance is a horrendously difficult thing to manage, sometimes the RFU/WR/PRL get things right, sometimes they make a monumental mess of something which on the outside seems easy, but like most things in life, nothing about running a sport is ever as simple as it first appears.

Neils, you are of course entitled to your opinion, as are we all 

 

[Bloke in North Dorset]

According to the article:

Study was partly funded by Rugby Football Union

So they're unlikely to want to delay it for any reason other than it doesn't work.

Also:

According to the report’s first author, Dr Valentina Di Pietro, technology to make the test available at pitchside could be developed within three to five years.

This is an engineering problem. Its easy to get something working in the lab, but getting something mass produced that works consistently and can be calibrated to an agreed level of accuracy across all machines is a lot harder.

And this:

“For the first time we have successfully identified that these specific salivary biomarkers can be used to indicate if a player has been concussed,” Professor Antonio Belli, the report’s senior author, said. “We now have a laboratory-based, non-invasive diagnostic test using saliva, which is a real gamechanger, and provides an invaluable tool to help clinicians diagnose concussion more consistently and accurately.

This doesn't look like a binary marker so there's going to have to be a lot more research to understand how much of it being detected constitutes a problem. Too sensitive and it could be ending players' careers early, not sensitive enough and they're going to be causing long term damage.

Its easy to see why its being hailed as a breakthrough though, but also why its going to take time to deploy and make a difference to the game and players' will being.

[hookender]

Saw on tv news hoping tests  would benefit public emergency situations re car crashes , falls etc.