Faculty Collaboration Database

Diagnostic Utility of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein Beyond 12 Hours After Traumatic Brain Injury: A TRACK-TBI Study. J Neurotrauma 2024 Jun;41(11-12):1353-1363

Date

01/22/2024

Pubmed ID

38251868

DOI

10.1089/neu.2023.0186

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85188273788 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   2 Citations

Abstract

Blood levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1) within 12h of suspected traumatic brain injury (TBI) have been approved by the Food and Drug administration to aid in determining the need for a brain computed tomography (CT) scan. The current study aimed to determine whether this context of use can be expanded beyond 12h post-TBI in patients presenting with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) 13-15. The prospective, 18-center Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury (TRACK-TBI) study enrolled TBI participants aged ≥17 years who presented to a United States Level 1 trauma center and received a clinically indicated brain CT scan within 24h post-injury, a blood draw within 24h and at 14 days for biomarker analysis. Data from participants with emergency department arrival GCS 13-15 and biomarker values at days 1 and 14 were extracted for the primary analysis. A subgroup of hospitalized participants with serial biomarkers at days 1, 3, 5, and 14 were analyzed, including plasma GFAP and UCH-L1, and serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and S100 calcium-binding protein B (S100B). The primary analysis compared biomarker values dichotomized by head CT results (CT+/CT-). Area under receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to determine diagnostic accuracy. The overall cohort included 1142 participants with initial GCS 13-15, with mean age 39.8 years, 65% male, and 73% Caucasian. The GFAP provided good discrimination in the overall cohort at days 1 (AUC = 0.82) and 14 (AUC = 0.72), and in the hospitalized subgroup at days 1 (AUC = 0.84), 3 (AUC = 0.88), 5 (AUC = 0.82), and 14 (AUC = 0.74). The UCH-L1, NSE, and S100B did not perform well (AUC = 0.51-0.57 across time points). This study demonstrates the utility of GFAP to aid in decision-making for diagnostic brain CT imaging beyond the 12h time frame in patients with TBI who have a GCS 13-15.

Author List

Puccio AM, Yue JK, Korley FK, Okonkwo DO, Diaz-Arrastia R, Yuh EL, Ferguson AR, Mukherjee P, Wang KKW, Taylor SR, Deng H, Markowitz AJ, Sun X, Jain S, Manley GT

Authors

Michael McCrea PhD Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Lindsay D. Nelson PhD Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Aged
Biomarkers
Brain Injuries, Traumatic
Female
Glasgow Coma Scale
Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Time Factors
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Ubiquitin Thiolesterase
Young Adult