Predicting outcome after pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) is important for providing information to families and prescribing rehabilitation services. The study objective was to assess whether biomarkers concentrations obtained at the time of injury are associated with outcome. Serial serum concentrations of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), S100B and myelin basic protein (MBP) were measured in 152 children with acute TBI. Outcome was assessed with the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score and/or GOS-Extended Pediatric (GOS-E Peds). Spearman's rank correlation and binary logistic regression assessed the relationship between biomarker concentrations and outcome. For all biomarkers and time points, higher biomarker concentrations were associated with worse outcome. Initial and peak NSE concentrations and initial MBP concentrations were more strongly correlated with outcome in children < or =4 years compared with those >4 years of age. Using binary logistic regression to evaluate the simultaneous affect of all biomarkers on outcome, there was significant overall model fit predicting a dichotomous GOS from biomarker concentrations with a 77% correct classification rate and a negative and positive predictive value of 97% and 75%, respectively. We conclude that NSE, S100B, and MBP concentrations obtained at the time of TBI may be useful in predicting outcome. Future studies should focus on assessing the differential benefit of biomarkers compared with clinical variables and in assessing a continuous rather than categorical outcome variable.

Serum and/or CSF concentrations of NSE and MBP may be useful as a screening test to identify infants who are at increased risk for iTBI and may benefit from additional evaluation with a head computed tomography scan. S100B is neither sensitive nor specific for iTBI in this study population. The ability to identify iTBI that might otherwise be missed has important implications for decreasing the morbidity and the mortality from iTBI.

Predicting outcome after pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) is important for providing information to families and prescribing rehabilitation services. Previously published studies evaluating the ability of serum biomarkers to predict outcome after pediatric TBI have focused on three markers: neuron-specific enolase (NSE), S100B, and myelin-basic protein (MBP), all of which have important limitations. The study objectives were to measure serum concentrations of two novel serum biomarkers, ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase (UCH-L1) and aII-spectrin breakdown product 145 kDa (SBDP145), in children with TBI and healthy controls and to assess the ability of these markers to predict outcome as assessed by a dichotomous Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score. We also sought to compare the predictive ability of UCH-L1 and SBDP145 to that of the clinical gold standard, the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, and to that of the well-accepted biomarkers NSE, S100B, and MBP. Serum UCH-L1 and SBDP145 concentrations were significantly greater in subjects than in controls. The increase in UCH-L1 and SBDP145 was exclusively seen in subjects with moderate and severe TBI; there was no increase after mild TBI. Both markers had a significant negative partial correlation with the GCS after controlling for age. Both UCH-L1 and SBDP145 were correlated with GOS, and this correlation was stronger than the correlations with NSE, S100B, or MBP. These results suggest that these two markers may be useful in assessing outcome after moderate and severe pediatric TBI.

Objective Morbidity and mortality in children with cardiac arrest (CA) largely result from neurologic injury. Serum biomarkers of brain injury can potentially measure injury to neurons (neuron specific enolase [NSE]), astrocytes (S100b), and axons (myelin basic protein [MBP]). We hypothesized that serum biomarkers can be used to predict outcome from pediatric CA. Design Prospective observational study. Setting Single tertiary pediatric hospital. Patients Forty-three children with cardiac arrest. Interventions None. Measurements and Main Results We measured serum NSE, S100b, and MBP on days 1–4 and 7 after CA. We recorded demographics, details of the CA and resuscitation, and Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category (PCPC) at hospital discharge and 6 months. We analyzed the association of biomarker levels at 24, 48, and 72 hours with good (PCPC 1–3) or poor (PCPC 4–6) outcome and mortality. Forty-three children (49% female; mean age of 5.9 ± 6.3 were enrolled and 17 (40%) died. Serum concentration at 24 hours for all 3 biomarkers predicted mortality (all p<0.05). Additionally, serum NSE and S100b concentrations were increased in the poor outcome vs. good outcome group and in subjects who died at all time points (all p<0.05). Receiver operator curves for serum S100b and NSE to predict good vs. poor outcome at 6 months was superior to clinical predictors. There was no association between serum biomarker concentrations and subject temperature. Conclusions Preliminary data show that serum S100b, NSE, and MBP may aid in outcome prediction of children surviving CA.

BACKGROUND: Abusive head trauma is the leading cause of death from physical abuse. Misdiagnosis of abusive head trauma as well as other types of brain abnormalities in infants is common and contributes to increased morbidity and mortality. We previously derived the Pittsburgh Infant Brain Injury Score (PIBIS), a clinical prediction rule to assist physicians deciding which high-risk infants should undergo computed tomography of the head.