Background: Surveying serum markers can be valuable in predicting the outcome of patients with head trauma. The current study examined the diagnostic value of the serum level of Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) to determine the hospital outcome of patients with head trauma.
Methods:  This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 40 patients with pure head trauma who had indications for brain CT scans and required hospitalization from July 2017 to May 2019 at Trauma Medical-Educational Center. The variables were age, gender, initial consciousness level based on Glasgow Coma Score (GCS), trauma mechanism, the time-lapse between trauma and admission to hospital, mortality, Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) during discharge, GOS at one and six months after discharge, initial serum level of NT-pro BNP (N Terminal-pro BNP), and results of brain CT scan.
Results: Concerning the reports of brain CT scans, from 40 patients, 26 patients had normal brain CT scans, and 14 patients had abnormal brain CT scans. Mean ± SD value of NT-pro BNP for normal group was 407.7 ± 190.25 pg/ml and for abnormal group was 631.43 ± 219.25 pg/ml (p = 0.009). Only five patients with abnormal CT scans died during the study. In predicting mortality of patients, the initial serum level of NT-pro BNP was 693 pg/ml with 80%sensitivity and 74% specificity.
Conclusion: assessing of the serum values of NT-pro BNP can help predict the mortality rate of patients with head trauma. Higher values of NT-pro BNP during hospitalization is a good indicator of a low survival rate in patients.