In April, BCOM medical student Harris Ahmed traveled to Houston to attend the national annual meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine where he orally presented a case report that he worked on with fellow BCOM students Morgan Long and Sam Richardson. Of the 60 presentations given at the meeting, Ahmed was the only student invited to speak; all other presenters were physicians.
Ahmed, who plans to pursue a career in ophthalmology, came across a unique case that he wanted to study further. Long and Richardson were also exposed to the case and expressed an interest in participating. The case report, entitled “Ophthalmic Pathology in a 16-year-old Hispanic Male Patient,” involved a concussion patient who developed Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus (HZO), which is a shingles infection in the eye.
Key points from the case report included a verifiable link between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and immunosuppression, which can be significant enough to trigger HZO. In turn, HZO also complicates and prolongs concussion rehab and treatment, and there is an additive effect of HZO with concussion on symptoms in the eye.
Ahmed said his presentation was well-receive by a packed house and that plenty of questions were asked.
