Introduction: A computerized tomography (CT) scan is an effective test for detecting traumatic intracranial findings after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). However, a head CT is costly, and can only be performed in a hospital.
Objective: To determine if the addition of plasma S100B to clinical guidelines could lead to a more selective scanning strategy without compromising safety.
Methods: We conducted a single center prospective cohort study at the emergency department. Patients (≥16 years) who received head CT and had a blood draw were included. The primary outcome was the accuracy of plasma S100B to predict the presence of any traumatic intracranial lesion on head CT.
Results: We included 495 patients, out of the 74 patients who had traumatic intracranial lesions, 5 patients had a plasma S100B level below the cutoff value of 0.105 ug/L. For the detection of traumatic intracranial injury, S100B had a sensitivity of 0.932 , a specificity of 0.157, a negative predictive value of 0.930, and a positive predictive value of 0.163.
Conclusions: Among patients undergoing guideline-based CT scan for mTBI, the use of S100B, would results in a further decrease (14.8%) of CT scans but at a cost of missed injury, without clinical consequence, on CT.
Keywords: Mild traumatic brain injury; S100B; emergency department; head CT; screening tool.