Blood biomarkers of mild traumatic brain injury: State of art

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is one of the most common causes of emergency department visits around the world. Up to 90% of injuries are classified as mTBI. Cranial computed tomography (CCT) is a standard diagnosis tool to identify intracranial complications in adults with mTBI. Alternatively, children can be admitted for inpatient observation with CCT scans performed only on those with clinical deterioration. The use of blood biomarkers is a supplementary tool for identifying patients at risk of intracerebral lesions who may need imaging.

We realised a bibliographic state of art providing a contemporary clinical and laboratory framework for blood biomarker testing in mTBI management.

The S100B protein is the only biomarker that can be used today in the clinical routine for management of mTBI with appropriate evidence-based medicine. Due to its excellent negative predictive value, S100B protein is an alternative choice to CCT scanning for mTBI management with considered, consensual and pragmatic use. In this state of art, we propose points to help clinicians and clinical pathologists use serum S100B protein in the clinical routine. A state of art on the different biomarkers (GFAP, UCH-L1, NF [H or L], tau, H-FABP, SNTF, NSE, miRNAs, MBP) is also conducted. Some of these other biomarkers, used alone (GFAP, UCH-L1) or in combination (GFAP+H-FABP±S100B±IL10) can improve the specificity of S100B.

Using a bibliographic state of art, we highlighted the added values of the blood biomarkers for the clinical management of mTBI.