Severe brain injury carries a significant burden for patients, for their families and carers, and for society.
This collaborative project will collect cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood biospecimens from brain injury patients and link them to detailed patient data via an existing brain injury registry.
What is the issue for NSW?
Severe brain injury is a major health problem in Australia. The incidence of traumatic brain injury in Australia is about 100/100,000 and is the leading cause of death and disability in Australia for children and young adults.
Severe brain injury has catastrophic impacts on patients and their families. Knowledge of the expected long-term outcomes is among the top needs of family members of patients admitted with severe brain injury. Recovery from a brain injury is variable and dependent on the severity of the injury.
A means to determine the severity of the brain injury early is needed for clinicians and families to make informed decisions regarding treatment options for patients with brain injury.
What does the research aim to do and how?
The research team has created a registry of detailed information about brain injury patients admitted to the Royal North Shore Hospital Intensive Care Unit. This grant will fund collection of blood and brain fluid also called cerebrospinal fluid that will be linked to data in the registry.
Research using these data-linked biospecimens will allow new understanding into the biological events associated with brain injury, and lead to improved patient outcomes.
Following brain injury, a complex sequence of biological events occurs and may influence the patient recovery. This research will investigate specific proteins which may be useful markers that help determine the severity of brain injury earlier and hence provide a prognosis earlier.
Identification of biomarkers that can be used as early indicators of the severity of brain injury will enable clinicians and families to make informed decisions regarding treatment options for patients and loved ones. Such biomarkers will also facilitate a more targeted approach to future research.