title: Serum cleaved tau does not predict postconcussion syndrome after mild traumatic brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our objective was to determine if the biomarker for axonal injury, serum cleaved tau (C-tau), predicts postconcussion syndrome (PCS) in adults after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
  
  
  METHODS
  C-tau was measured from blood obtained in the emergency department. Outcome was assessed at 3 months post injury using the Rivermead Postconcussion Symptoms Questionnaire and Acute Medical Outcomes SF-36v2 Health Survey (SF-36).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 50 patients, there were 15 patients with detectable levels of C-tau, 10 patients with abnormal findings on initial head computed tomography (CT) and 22 patients with PCS. One-third of patients with detectable C-tau and 14.3% of patients without detectable C-tau had abnormal findings on head CT (P = .143). Serum C-tau was not detected more frequently in patients with PCS than those without, neither for all patients (P = .115) nor the subgroup with negative head CT (P = .253).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  C-tau is a poor predictor of PCS after mTBI regardless of head CT result.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. mamarek@uphs.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lindsell
authors.forename: Clark M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Rosenberry
authors.forename: George J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Frank P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Zemlan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D038223:Post-Concussion Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014193:Trauma Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016875:tau Proteins
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