Diagnostic performance of S100B protein serum measurement in detecting intracranial injury in children with mild head trauma

Objective To assess the accuracy of S100B serum level to detect intracranial injury in children with mild traumatic brain injury. Methods A multicenter prospective cohort study was carried out in the paediatric emergency departments of three tertiary hospitals in Switzerland between January 2009 and December 2011. Participants included children aged 2 years, respectively. The specificity, however, was 34% (95% CI 27% to 36%) and 37% (95% CI 30% to 37%), respectively. Conclusions S100B has an excellent sensitivity but poor specificity. It is therefore an accurate tool to help rule out an intracranial injury but cannot be used as the sole marker owing to its specificity. Used with clinical decision rules, S100B may help to reduce the number of unnecessary CT scans