Jun 11, 2014 5 min read

Allegheny Health Network has announced an arrangement that will bring a new mobile technology for managing concussions to Western Pennsylvania.

Through a limited licensing agreement with iComet Technologies, Allegheny Health Network will be the sole provider of C3 Logix testing capabilities in the 29 counties of western Pennsylvania.

Recommendations issued by the International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport in 2012 call for a multifaceted approach to diagnosing and treating mild traumatic brain injury (concussion) through assessment of symptoms, reaction time, memory and processing time, motor function, vision, balance and vestibulo-ocular reflex. C3 Logix is an exciting new technology that addresses each of these components to give a thorough assessment of the patient’s brain health.

“We are extremely pleased to bring this comprehensive concussion testing modality to our community,” said Dr. Tony Farah, chief medical officer, Allegheny Health Network. “Athletes at all levels, amateur, scholastic, collegiate and professional, stand to benefit greatly from the portability and accuracy of this innovation.”

C3 Logix was developed by iComet Technologies, a Cleveland Clinic Innovations spinoff company formed in 2012.

Like other concussion evaluation tools, C3 Logix includes a computerized neurocognitive exam. In addition, however, C3 Logix tracks a patient’s dynamic vision reflexes and ability to visually focus on moving objects. The tool features a new battery of tests that effectively measure motor skills and balance through a unique iPad application.

When the iPad is strapped to a patient’s back, the app collects accelerometer and gyroscopic data to assess postural stability while the patient attempts various stances on both firm and soft surfaces.

“By examining balance and other critical elements of concussion assessment that aren’t factored into existing diagnostic tools, C3 Logix is taking concussion evaluation to the next level,” said Dr. Edward Snell, director of Allegheny General Hospital’s Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship and Sports Concussion Clinic. He also serves as head team physician for the Pittsburgh Pirates, on Major League Baseball’s concussion committee and on the sports advisory board for the PIAA.

“C3 Logix’s comprehensive evaluation also will be extremely beneficial to physicians in developing personalized care plans to help each patient gradually and safely resume physical activity and eventually return to play,” Snell said.

Results of baseline testing performed during preseason conditioning are compared with tests performed after a suspected concussion to assist physicians in making a diagnosis. The iPad interfaces with cloud-based data infrastructure for analytics, display, archiving and access by designated clinicians on virtually any Internet-connected device to facilitate remote expert evaluation.

“C3 Logix is a prime example of the type of inventive technology that Allegheny Health Network looks to bring to our region,” said Alan Russell, Highmark distinguished career professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s (Institute for Complex Engineered Systems and the Disruptive Health Technology Institute, a newly launched effort by CMU, Highmark and Allegheny Health Network to foster health care innovations.

“Patients benefit from such programs which improve access to care, provide easy-to-understand results and yield better outcomes at reduced costs.”

C3 Logix is currently used at more than 50 schools in northeast Ohio and has been used to assess more than 7,000 athletes in the past year.

Athletic trainers with Allegheny Health Network began baseline testing with the system this month, with plans to expand the C3 Logix program to all 14 school districts that receive athletic training services through Allegheny Sports Medicine’s scholastic program before offering it throughout the western half of Pennsylvania. The system is also being used at Robert Morris University and with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds professional soccer team.

“Head injuries are a great concern in the schools that we serve and we look forward to bringing this state-of-the-art technology to students at their own practice facilities,” said Dr. Patrick J. DeMeo, professor and chair, Department of Orthopaedics, Allegheny Health Network and medical director, Pittsburgh Pirates.

Allegheny Health Network and Cleveland Clinic also will collaborate on a study to determine if C3 Logix could prove to be a valuable data collection tool for patients with multiple sclerosis. Allegheny Health Network will join with Dr. Jay Alberts, the Edward F. and Barbara A. Bell Family endowed chair of biomedical engineering at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, to examine how data collected with C3 Logix could help improve MS management.

“The expansion of our patient monitoring technologies to MS patients is a logical transition and may eventually help patients monitor and report subtle changes in their conditions,” said Alberts.

The technology could also provide remote monitoring capabilities for patients in rural areas, allowing physicians to make “virtual house calls” to get regular updates from patients who can’t make frequent office appointments.

“The availability of testing that could result in better medical management of MS might be a significant step forward for us and we look forward to assessing the benefits of remote patient monitoring with C3 Logix,” said neurologistDr. Thomas Scott, director of the Allegheny Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Center.