MotoAmerica Revolutionises Rapid Concussion Testing in Sport With New Blood Test

If this isn't adopted by other organizations soon, it'd be ridiculous.

Photo by: Yamaha

By: Robbie Bacon

May 5, at 7:54am ET

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The last time a helmet saved my life, I certainly wasn't feeling right for some time. I was dizzy, to say the least, but did I have a concussion? I don't know, and that's a problem in motorcycle racing. I continued to ride that day, but if I'd had Abbott's rapid blood test for concussion evaluation on hand, I might've been told to go to the Emergency Room.

Thankfully, riders in MotoAmerica won't ever be in the position I was, as it's now the first organization to use Abbott's rapid blood test for concussion evaluation on-site at races. And it should revolutionize the care given to riders post-crash.

Abbott's test, the i-STAT TBI test cartridge, is used to evaluate patients 18 years of age and older who present with suspected mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). It provides results in just 15 minutes and may be used up to 24 hours after injury to help determine the need for a CT scan. Until now, the standard of care for concussions has relied on subjective examinations, but now, objective, concrete results will be on hand in minutes.

But I can hear you asking, if this is such a revolutionary form of testing, why is it only being used now? Well, Abbott's i-STAT TBI test just received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2024, but we still have to take our hats off to MotoAmerica for being the first professional sports organization to implement it.

"This is the first ever objective test that physicians have had at the point-of-care to assist in the assessment of concussions – it changes the game,” said Carl Price, M.D., chief medical officer for MotoAmerica. “If a crash or fall does happen, the ability to quickly and objectively determine whether or not a rider needs a CT scan or additional evaluation, right there on-site, provides us—and our riders—with peace of mind."

The i-STAT TBI test cartridge will be available in on-site medical facilities for all MotoAmerica races during the 2025 season, starting this weekend at the Michelin Raceway Road in Atlanta, GA.

Concussions are all too common in two-wheeled racing, making this next statistic all the more worrying. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), traumatic brain injury from accidents or sport is a leading cause of death and disability in the US. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 2.5 million people visit the emergency room for TBIs each year.

The test isn't invasive and only requires a few drops of blood to be applied to the test cartridge, which is then inserted into a portable i-STAT Alinity instrument. The instrument measures two brain-specific biomarkers that are released into the bloodstream when there's a significant brain injury.

Overall, it seems to be a relatively easy safety measure to implement, so if we don't see other professional racing organizations using it soon, they'll have something to answer for.