Objective To investigate the potential of admission serum cleaved Tau protein (SCTP) level to predict the clinical outcome in adult patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design A prospective observational study. Setting Emergency Department (ED) of Alexandria Main University Hospital. Patients This study was conducted on 196 patients older than 18 years presenting to Emergency Department with moderate and severe TBI within 24 h after closed head injury. The following patients were excluded: Pregnant females, factors hindering Glasgow Coma Scale assessment (e.g. spinal cord injury or cardiac arrest), and persistent shock or hypoxia after proper initial resuscitation. Patients and methods On admission: Initial assessment and stabilization of all patients was done. Patients with moderate and severe TBI were categorized in terms of Glasgow Coma Scale, cranial computerized tomography (CT) findings were tabulated and graded using Rotterdam computed tomography score, and venous blood samples were collected for CTP evaluation. The Admission SCTP level was correlated with the clinical outcome of patients, as assessed by the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS), at the time of discharge. Results The mean admission SCTP level in the good outcome group (GOS 4, 5) was 1191.1 ± 205.7 ng/l, and 2625.2 ± 1018.2 ng/l in the poor outcome group (GOS 1, 2, 3), P less than 0.05. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between admission SCTP level and Rotterdam score, while there was statistically significant negative correlation between GOS and both severity of trauma and Rotterdam score, P less than 0.05. Conclusion Evaluation of the admission SCTP level can serve as a strong biomarker with high sensitivity and specificity in evaluating the outcome of TBI.
Montasser et al. (Tue,) studied this question.