Dane Looker - Career threatening injury?

[Slug]

I really hope everything works out with this. From everything I've heard he a good man. Sending prayers from NJ.

[RealRam]

I really hope everything works out with this. From everything I've heard he's a good man. Sending prayers from NJ.

I really hope everything works out with this. From everything I've heard he's a good man. Sending prayers from NJ.

Absolutely ... best wishes to my friend Dane Looker.

[RealRam]

Can someone help me here? I hurredly only browsed through these posts and the following article; not sure if I missed something. Is Looker okay as far as the concussion itself is concerned?

I'd like to see him return to the Rams receiver corps ASAP.

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Looker Held Out, Awaits More Tests
Wednesday, October 8, 2008


By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

The Rams ruled out receiver Dane Looker for this week’s game against Washington on Wednesday, as Looker waits for the results of some follow up tests to previous exams that revealed an abnormality on the scan of his brain.

Looker went through the normal battery of tests after he suffered a concussion against Buffalo on Sept. 28. One of those scans revealed an abnormality that caught the attention of the doctors.

Looker said at the time that he waited 24 hours and was cleared by a doctor. But on further review, the abnormality has been determined to be a little more of a concern.

The Rams have scheduled more tests for Looker this week before he can be cleared to do anything.

Team physician Dr. Matt Matava said Wednesday afternoon that the abnormality is not of serious concern until all tests have been completed and that the main objective is to determine that Looker doesn’t have an aneurysm.

“That’s the thing that has to be ruled out,” Matava said. “He will have a definitive test tomorrow.”

An aneurysm is defined as a localized, blood-filled dilation of a blood vessel caused by disease or weakening of the vessel wall.

Looker said he was due for an MRI on Wednesday that could examine brain tissue before the definitive test on Thursday. That test is called an angiogram and is a procedure in which a catheter is inserted in the groin and injects a dye into the arterial system.

The angiogram will then give doctors an outline on the arterial blood supply to the brain. That test is the final say on whether or not an aneurysm is a possibility.

“That’s the definitive test to rule out an aneurysm,” Matava said. “There’s no evidence that he has an aneurysm except suggestion of something like that showed up on one of his tests. It just needs to be ruled out. He has no symptoms suggestive of one; he has no prior history of any problems. This is not something that comes from the concussion he had, it was just a suggestion of a finding that was picked up on another test he had as a result of the concussion that he had had tests for. This is just to uncover every stone to make sure there is nothing there.”

For his part, the past week has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Looker. After taking a hard hit from Buffalo cornerback Leodis McKelvin, Looker was quickly diagnosed with a concussion.

But anytime a player has a concussion, he must go through a series of tests including the “base line” neuro-psychological tests which gauges how well a player can perform and remember basic functions.
In Looker’s case, this issue is unrelated to anything stemming or related to the concussion. Rather, the abnormality came as a result of testing that comes from the litany of tests a player goes through after a concussion.

In that sense, Looker is grateful for the concussion, particularly if the angiogram reveals something beyond an abnormality.

“It’s kind of a blessing in disguise because without the concussion I would have never had the CAT scan so I have been cleared of the concussion but when they did the CAT scan, it’s a little spot on my brain,” Looker said. “I can’t tell you what it is but it’s big enough – I thought it was going to be a blip you can barely see – but it kind of alarmed me a little bit when I saw it on the scan.”

Early last week, Looker made reference to a possible calcium buildup in the carotid artery in his neck. He said at the time that the doctors had looked at the scan and cleared him from that.

On Wednesday, Looker said he was mistaken and the abnormality was actually on his brain.

“It is connected to that,” Looker said. “I had one doctor who felt I was cleared and he passed it on to the top of the line guy and he found some cause. I think the biggest thing is they are not really sure what it is.”

According to Matava, any other speculation on what the abnormality could be other than an aneurysm is simply conjecture and there is absolutely no reason to believe it could even be anything else.

In medical terms, Looker hasn’t been cleared to play and even if he comes out of the tests OK, Looker is being held out of practice this week and coach Jim Haslett ruled him out of this week’s game.

The always optimistic and positive Looker made it through the previous scare and says he expects to do the same this time around.

“Anytime you are dealing with the brain, you start thinking about your mortality a little bit,” Looker said. “But I think everything is going to be fine I really have never felt any adverse effects as far as dizziness or pain in my head or anything. I feel it’s going to be fine.”

[UtterBlitz]

I have to wonder if the thigh injury holds some clues to his condition. That was a strange injury. Does it have anything to do with the spot on his brain?

RealRam .... from what I read he was cleared for the concussion and they are saying that this spot on his brain was not caused by the concussion.

[Slug]

Can someone help me here? I hurredly only browsed through these posts and the following article; not sure if I missed something. Is Looker okay as far as the concussion itself is concerned?

Yes. As far as the concussion goes, he's been cleared to play. However because a separate potential brain issue has been discovered, it might not be prudent to have him getting hit until they can determine the severity and type of the new anomaly they found. Not worth risking his life to shore up the WR corp.