A recent study led by researchers from the university revealed that proteins glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) increase right after a brain injury before slowly dropping. GFAP was found to rapidly spike between four and 20 hours post-injury before slowly declining over several days.
The researchers compared GFAP and UCH-L1 levels in the blood with positive and negative CT scans and patient MRIs. They found that GFAP could be used to reveal acute brain injury in patients that showed no sign of damage on brain imaging.
While UCH-L1 levels were less revealing in this study, a test measuring both proteins is available at the point-of-care. The researchers are working to include it in routine emergency department practice to reduce unnecessary brain scans and misdiagnoses.
