A new blood test helps patients with traumatic brain injury to avoid an expensive CT scan

July 26, 2018

Research conducted at the Wayne State University School of Medicine has confirmed the effectiveness of a blood biomarker that can indicate whether wounded patients to the head can avoid an expensive CT scan

The findings, published online in The Lancet Neurology on July 24, validated the use of a diagnostic blood test developed by Banyan Biomarkers Inc. to rule out the need for a CT scan of the head in patients 18 years of age and older with suspected TBI. The results support the potential clinical role of biomarker testing in drastically reducing the need to scan CT scans of the head, thereby reducing patient exposure to radiation and health care costs for unnecessary examinations.

UCH-L1 in predicting the absence of intracranial lesions on the CT head (ALERT-TBI): a multicenter observational study, "reported that the Banyan Brain Trauma Indicator, or Banyan BTI ^™ Correctly Identified 99.6% of Patients According to Welch, MD, MS, Dr. Brooks F. Bock, MD, professor of emergency medicine for Wayne State, said that more than 1,900 adults were presenting to Emergencies in the United States and Europe University

"This study is exciting for several reasons: it is the largest study of any biomarker of TBI performed in the United States and provides evidence of robustness compared to many es, "said Dr. Welch." Our findings have been the basis for the first panel of FDA-approved blood biomarkers that will help diagnose and treat patients with mild TBI, which has been up to a certain point a saint-Gr aal "

a commercially available product is released, I suspect that these two biomarkers will become an important component of the clinical care of patients with head trauma and suspected TBI," he added.

Wayne State University was the highest enrollment site in the multicenter study He said:

Biomarkers, Carboxy-terminal Ubiquitin Hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1) and Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP), are detected in the blood shortly after a brain injury. In February, the US Food and Drug Administration granted Banyan Biomarkers marketing authorization for the commercialization of Banyan BTI ™ to facilitate the badessment of patients suspected of having Banyan BTI ™ on the market. CBT. Banyan BTI is the first and only FDA-approved biomarker for use in BITs.

Results Demonstrate That Both Blood Brain Biomarkers Can Predict the Absence of Intracranial Injury and Reduce Computed Tomography Reducing Radiation Exposure and Health Care Costs, While Improving Care to patients and the efficiency of emergency services, according to the study. Biomarkers are particularly useful in benign forms of TBI, such as concussions suffered during athleticism.

An estimated 54 to 60 million people worldwide experience brain trauma each year. In the United States, more than 2.5 million people are diagnosed with TBI each year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most of these concussions. CT scans are the common diagnostic choices for such cases, contributing to nearly 20 million head CTs performed each year in the US, costing more than $ 76 billion each year.

because of the potential adverse effects of radiation exposure, unnecessary use of emergency department resources and the cost of testing. Clinical decision rules developed to reduce unnecessary head CT have had minimal effect.

The results of the study suggest that up to one-third of top-of-the-art CT scans performed in the acute setting of CBT can be completely avoided. The clinical use of the GFAP and UCH-L1 biomarker test has the potential to reduce unnecessary head tomodensitograms, and avoid radiation exposure and badociated costs, Dr. Welch said.