[Usefulness of biomarkers in the prognosis of severe head injuries]

Severe head injuries have a great socioeconomic and public health impact. Despite progress in diagnosis and treatment, no sufficiently reliable predictive models have been established for developing clinical trials and promoting effective therapeutic strategies capable of improving the prognosis. In the last decades, several brain damage biomarkers have been studied as potential diagnostic and prognostic tools in traumatic brain injury. However, all of them have limitations that preclude their universalized application. The properties of the known biomarkers -both those traditionally shown to correlate with severity and prognosis, and those recently announced as promising options- should be analyzed. New studies are needed to define their properties, both isolatedly and in combined use.