Serial neuro-specific enolase serum measurements after acute head injury

Objective ①To study serum levels of neuro-specific enolase(NSE)in patients with acute head injury.②To investigate the time course of serum NSE after moderate and severe head injury in correlation to outcome.Methods Serum NSE levels were measured in 51 patients with acute head injury by ELISA.Serial serum NSE levels were measured in part of patients with moderate and severe head injury.Results A significant elevation was observed in serum NSE levels in patients with moderate and severe head injury,relative to patients with minor head injury( P 0 001).A significant difference was also noted between NSE levels in patients with severe head injury and those with moderate head injury( P 0 05).In surviving patients with moderate and severe head injury,the highest levels of NSE were found in the first samples.The values declined toward normal levels within 2 days in patients with moderate head injury and 4 days in patients with severe head injury.In patients who died within 3 days,high levels of NSE persisted or even increased until death ensued.Conclusions These results support the use of serum NSE for early estimation of the degree of brain injury and prognosis of patients with acute head injury.