Blog: EYE-SYNC and Kaizen Brain Center

Recently, we sat down with one of our dearest and longest tenured customers, Dr. Mohammed Ahmed of the Kaizen Brain Center in La Jolla, CA. Dr. Ahmed gave us insight into how his practice operates, how he manages a wide ranging patient population, and how EYE-SYNC has contributed to his clinical workflow and patient care.

Tell us a little bit about your practice, Kaizen Brain Center.

Kaizen Brain Center is a private concierge clinic, but with the heart of academia. This is a place for people who’ve had concussions, not just a week ago, but years ago. Their traumatic brain injury is a risk factor for developing neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, CTE within the context of football players, and Parkinson’s or motor dysfunction. 

What value does EYE-SYNC bring to your clinical offerings? 

So it’s not just important to get an accurate early diagnosis, but also to monitor those people due to the risk they are at. We collaborate with the local university, and if one of their athletes has a concussion and they have gone through their protocol and if they still have any questions about whether the patient is ready to be cleared, they send the patient to us to do additional testing with EYE-SYNC. In this process we do some complex neuro-imaging, including functional MRI, to understand their brain maps. 

We have to learn to parse out different complexities of the presentations. With having EYE-SYNC on board, an objective measurement of ocular-motor dysfunction, we have the ability to rule that aspect out, and focus on other domains, so that we can guide better treatment targets.

Can you provide an example of when EYE-SYNC made a clear difference in your evaluation?

We had a young student athlete from one of our local universities who had a concussion and did all the baseline testing. Now she was actually cleared to go back and play, until we did the EYE-SYNC test; she had a significant impairment to her ocular-motor function. Clearly that helped me decide that she was at high risk for developing another concussion, so we did not let her go back to play, and I think that was a huge critical decision that we made. 

How has EYE-SYNC helped your clinical practice?

EYE-SYNC technology has improved my workflow by helping me come to a more accurate diagnosis in a shorter period of time. And now I have an objective measurement. I can look at it and know where to hone down my clinical evaluation. I think that has been the biggest satisfaction. 

How has EYE-SYNC impacted your clinical decision making? 

I’ve been an advocate for this, and I think ever since we started this Kaizen Brain Center about two years ago, you know when I treat the young athletes who have had concussion, I make the decision that they should not go back to play based on the objective assessment I have, I feel good. I feel good because I’m probably changing their trajectory. If they were to go back and have another concussion and have a chronic syndrome for the rest of their life, and especially the critical years of their college life, that can be a detriment to the trajectory of their lifespan, I feel good that I’m able to make a difference. Not just today, but in the long, long term. 

How would you describe EYE-SYNC to a fellow clinician?

I would describe EYE-SYNC to other physicians as very easy to use, provided you understand the science and why you are using it. It’s been a great tool for us and we will continue to incorporate it as long as we are here practicing and helping people with concussion.