Biomarkers add value to traumatic brain injury prognosis

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury is a heterogeneous condition, with functional outcomes that can be highly variable among patients who have seemingly similar preinjury characteristics (eg, demographics and comorbidities) and injury factors (eg, mechanism and extent of brain damage). The analysis of large databases led to development of the commonly used IMPACT and CRASH prognostic models, which incorporate variables such as age, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) motor score, and pupillary reactivity.1 Although these models have some ability to quantify risk of poor functional outcomes in patients with moderate or severe traumatic brain injury, identification of additional predictive factors is needed to improve model accuracy and better inform clinical practice for individual patients.