Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jan 2024
Serial Measurements of Serum GFAP in Moderate-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: Potential Utility in Providing Insights into Secondary Insults and Long-term Outcome.
In patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), serum biomarkers may have utility in assessing the evolution of secondary brain injury. A panel of nine brain-injury- associated biomarkers was measured in archived serum samples over 10 days post-injury from 100 patients with moderate-severe TBI. Among the biomarkers evaluated, serum glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) had the strongest associations with summary measures of acute pathophysiology, including intracranial pressure (ICP), cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), and brain tissue pO2 (PbtO2). ⋯ Mediation analysis suggested that ICU burden scores were in the causal pathway between TRAJ group and 6-month mortality or GOS-E. Our results suggest that GFAP may be useful to monitor serially in moderate-severe TBI patients. Future studies in larger cohorts are needed to confirm these results.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jan 2024
Observational StudyPrognostic and Diagnostic Utility of Serum Biomarkers in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a major cause of morbidity and death among the pediatric population. Timely diagnosis, however, remains a complex task because of the lack of standardized methods that permit its accurate identification. The aim of this study was to determine whether serum levels of brain injury biomarkers can be used as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in this pathology. ⋯ Individual biomarker performance on predicting unfavorable outcomes was measured at 0, 24, and 48h across different GOS-E Peds time points, which was significant for p-tau181 at 0h at all time points, UCH-L1 at 0h at 6-9 months and 12 months, GFAP at 48h at 12 months, NfL at 0h at 12 months, tau at 0h at 12 months and S100B at 0h at 12 months. We concluded that TBI leads to increased serum neuronal injury biomarkers during the first 0-48h post-injury. A biomarker panel measuring these proteins could aid in the early diagnosis of mild to moderate pTBI and may predict neurological outcomes across the injury spectrum.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jan 2024
Microstructural Organization of Distributed White Matter Associated with Fine Motor Control in US Service Members with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is the most common form of brain injury. While most individuals recover from mTBI, roughly 20% experience persistent symptoms, potentially including reduced fine motor control. We investigate relationships between regional white matter organization and subcortical volumes associated with performance on the Grooved Pegboard (GPB) test in a large cohort of military Service Members and Veterans (SM&Vs) with and without a history of mTBI(s). ⋯ Higher fractional anisotropy (FA) of tracts including the posterior corona radiata, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and uncinate fasciculus were associated with better GPB performance in the dominant hand in SM&Vs with mTBI(s). These findings support that the organization of several white matter bundles are associated with fine motor performance in SM&Vs. We did not observe that mTBI history moderated associations between regional FA and GPB test completion time, suggesting that chronic mTBI may not significantly influence fine motor control.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jan 2024
Dynamic Relations Between Psychological Resilience and Post-Concussion Symptoms in Children with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Versus Orthopedic injury: An A-CAP study.
Higher psychological resilience is correlated with less severe post-concussion symptoms (PCS) after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in children, but the directional nature of this relationship remains uncertain. Although traditionally regarded as a stable, trait-like construct, resilience may be malleable and potentially influenced by mTBI and post-concussive symptoms. The current study sought to examine the stability of resilience, elucidate the dynamic nature of the resilience-PCS relation, and determine whether resilience-symptom associations are specific to mTBI or applicable to traumatic injury in general. ⋯ Notably, injury group was not a significant moderator in cross-lagged models, suggesting that resilience-symptom associations are not specific to mTBI. Psychological resilience and symptoms have bidirectional relationships after injury. Interventions designed to foster resilience have the potential to promote recovery after mTBI specifically and injury more generally.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jan 2024
Sex- and Age-Related Differences in Post-Concussive Symptom Reporting Among Children and their Parents.
Pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (pmTBI) has received increased public attention over the past decade, especially for children who experience persistent post-concussive symptoms (PCS). Common methods for obtaining pediatric PCS rely on both self- and parental report, exhibit moderate test-retest reliability, and variable child-parent agreement, and may yield high false positives. The current study investigated the impact of age and biological sex on PCS reporting (Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory) in patients with pmTBI (n = 286) at retrospective, 1 week, 4 months, and 1 year post-injury time points, as well as reported symptoms in healthy controls (HC; n = 218) at equivalent assessment times. ⋯ Parental test-retest reliability was higher for females. Although continued research is needed, current results support the use of child self-report over parental ratings for estimating PCS burden. Results also highlight the perils of relying on symptom self-report for diagnostic and prognostic purposes.