A new characterisation of acute Traumatic Brain Injury: the NIH-NINDS TBI Classification and Nomenclature Initiative.

Authors:

Geoffrey T Manley, Kristen Dams-O’Connor, Michael L Alosco, Hibah O Awwad, Jeffery J Bazarian, Peter Bragge, John D Corrigan, Adele Doperalski, Adam R Ferguson, Christine L Mac Donald, David K Menon, Molly M McNett, Joukje van der Naalt, Lindsay D Nelson, Dana Pisică, Noah D Silverberg, Nsini Umoh, Lindsay Wilson, Esther L Yuh, Henrik Zetterberg, Andrew I R Maas, Michael A McCrea on behalf of the members of the NIH-NINDS TBI Classification and Nomenclature Initiative.

Lay summary – Traumatic brain injury is usually grouped as mild, moderate or severe using a simple consciousness score, but this does not capture the full complexity of each injury. Experts from around the world have proposed a new way to describe acute TBI using four types of information: clinical signs, blood tests, brain scans and other factors that may affect recovery. This more detailed approach could help doctors tailor care to individual patients and improve future research, but it still needs further testing before routine use.