Traumatic Brain Injury research at Penn Medicine explores the effects of brain injury and tests the effectiveness of various treatments to improve quality of life for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Below you can read about our current clinical trials and research studies being conducted for TBI patients.
Contact us at TBIResearch@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.
Observational
Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury (TRACK-TBI)
The TRACK-TBI Consortium is a partnership of top tier Level 1 Trauma Centers in the United States. During the TRACK-TBI study, participants are followed from arrival at the hospital through one year after time of injury, with the goal of understanding the natural history of TBI to develop effective treatments.
The study is now following participants via phone interview into the chronic phase of TBI, for up to seven years after date of injury. A subset of these individuals, will have a more in-depth in-person assessment through the TRACK-TBI Biomarkers sub study. Those who show signs of post-traumatic epilepsy will also be enrolled in the TRACK-TBI Epileptogenesis Project to receive an epileptologist evaluation and EEG.
Learn more about the TRACK-TBI Consortium
Penn Acute Research Classification of TBI (PARC-TBI)
This study involves collecting biochemical and clinical data from TBI patients to improve classification of TBI. Data from this study will help improve appropriate selection and stratification of patients for clinical trials, as well as contribute to the development of a new taxonomy of TBI.
Longitudinal Assessment of Traumatic Microvascular Injury (LATMI)
The LATMI study uses functional MRI scans to characterize the response of neural blood vessels to increased CO2 levels. TBI patients will undergo assessments and follow up to determine the healing capacity of cerebral vasculature after TBI. Additionally, the study aims to understand the role of endothelial progenitor cells in the brain after TBI via biospecimen analysis and comparisons to imaging biomarkers.
Therapeutic
Brain Oxygen Optimization in Severe TBI Phase-3 (BOOST-3)
BOOST3 is a research study to learn if either of two strategies for monitoring and treating patients with TBI in the intensive care unit (ICU) is more likely to help them get better. Both of these alternative strategies are used in standard care. It is unknown if one is more effective than the other. In one strategy doctors concentrate only on preventing high ICP (intracranial pressure) caused by a swollen brain. In the other strategy doctors try to prevent high ICP, and also try to prevent low PbtO2 (brain oxygen). It is unknown if measuring and treating low brain oxygen is more effective, less effective, or the same as monitoring and treating high brain pressure alone. The results of this study will help doctors discover if one of these methods is more safe and effective.
Learn more about BOOST-3
Head injury Serum markers and Multi-modalities for Assessing Response to Trauma (HeadSMARTII)
Sponsored by BRAINBox Solutions, the HeadSMARTII study is assessing a test for the diagnosis and prognosis of concussion within 96hours of injury. The test can be completed with the study participant at their bedside and includes a panel of blood biomarkers as well as an advanced digital neurocognitive test. The combination of the test components generates a comprehensive score for the diagnosis of head injury.
Abbott I-Stat
Abbott has partnered with the TRACK-TBI Consortium and the United States Department of Defense to develop a point-of-care blood test to assess traumatic brain injury using their i-STAT Alinity device. The blood test under development by Abbott measures two types of proteins that are released from the brain after an injury, UCH-L1 and GFAP. Blood samples collected from study participants within 12 hours of injury will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the test.