Each day, people arrive at emergency departments carrying the uncertain aftermath of a blow to the head, and the medicine that meets them has long relied on a scan to see what lies beneath. In Dublin, researchers at the Mater Hospital have tested whether a quiet draw of blood, read within the hour, can reveal the same injuries without that journey through the scanner. Their early work, though small, suggests that the body may whisper its wounds in protein before an image can show them, and that a diagnosis might one day arrive sooner and with less burden to the person waiting. Whether this pro
Simple Blood Test Can Flag Brain Injuries Faster, Cutting Reliance on CT Scans, Irish Study Finds
Every head injury the CT scans found, the blood test found too
Mark
So what exactly did the researchers do at the Mater?
Mimi
They took 215 patients with head injuries, seen between July and December 2025, and gave each one both a CT scan and a blood test. Then they compared the results.
Mark
And the blood test held up?
Mimi
It correctly flagged 100pc of the injuries the CT scans found. The test looks for two proteins, GFAP and UCH-L1, and takes about fifteen minutes, with results inside an hour.
Luke
Before we get carried away, 215 is a small group, and this is a pilot. A perfect score in a sample that size doesn't tell us how it performs across thousands of patients.
Mimi
That's fair, and it's why the follow-up matters. The team has HSE Spark Innovation funding to recruit 2,000 patients and test it in routine emergency department care.
Mark
What's the practical gain if it works?
Mimi
Fewer unnecessary CT scans, shorter waits, less crowding. Dr Paula O'Shea said adjusting thresholds for older patients could double the number of people who safely skip a scan.
Luke
Note that the doubling is a projection from adjusted thresholds, not something the article shows in practice. And the claims about crowding are what the doctors expect, not measured results.
Mark
What about the economic side?
Mimi
Professor O'Halloran says there's a potential economic impact, but his team is still analysing it, so there are no figures yet.
Luke
Right. We don't have a cost number, and the article doesn't say how often the test might wrongly flag someone who has no injury. That's still unanswered.
Le Pouls
- A patient with a head injury waits in a crowded emergency department, facing the usual next step of a CT scan.
- Irish researchers have shown that a fifteen-minute blood test caught every head injury the scans found in 215 patients.
- Results can return within an hour, offering a way to spare some patients a scan and ease pressure on overstretched emergency rooms.
- Funding has been secured for a 2,000-patient study that will test whether the blood test holds up in routine, real-world care.
Each day, people arrive at emergency departments carrying the uncertain aftermath of a blow to the head, and the medicine that meets them has long relied on a scan to see what lies beneath. In Dublin, researchers at the Mater Hospital have tested whether a quiet draw of blood, read within the hour, can reveal the same injuries without that journey through the scanner. Their early work, though small, suggests that the body may whisper its wounds in protein before an image can show them, and that a diagnosis might one day arrive sooner and with less burden to the person waiting. Whether this promise holds in the crowded, unpredictable rhythm of everyday care is the question the next chapter of the work must answer.
A patient arrives at the emergency department of the Mater Hospital in Dublin with a head injury. The usual path is a CT scan. But in a study at the hospital, these patients were also given a blood test, and that test may offer a quicker way forward.
The test is called BAMBI, short for Biomarker of Acute Mild Brain Injury. It searches the proteins in the blood for a molecular signature of brain trauma. Led by Professor Phil O'Halloran, a neurosurgeon at the Mater and the Royal London Hospital, the research followed 215 patients who arrived with head injuries between July and December 2025. Each had both a CT scan and the blood test. The findings were published in the British Journal of Neurosurgery.
The test caught every head injury that the scans detected. Dr Paula O'Shea, a consultant clinical biochemist, said that adjusting thresholds for older patients could safely double the number who avoid an unnecessary scan. For emergency doctors like Dr Etimbuk Umana, the appeal is practical: fewer scans could shorten waits and ease overcrowding.
Professor O'Halloran called the work a milestone, likening it to the move toward molecular approaches in cancer care. The next phase, backed by HSE funding, will enrol 2,000 patients to see how the test performs in routine care, a far harder setting than the pilot. The economic impact is still being studied, and that is what comes next.
A patient arrives at the emergency department of the Mater Hospital in Dublin with a head injury. Under the usual routine, the next step is a CT scan. In a study run at the hospital, these patients also had blood drawn, and that blood test may point to a faster route in the future.
The work is called BAMBI, short for Biomarker of Acute Mild Brain Injury. It looks for a molecular signature of brain trauma in the proteins found in a patient's blood. The research was led by Professor Phil O'Halloran, a consultant neurosurgeon at the Mater and the Royal London Hospital. The test takes about fifteen minutes to carry out in the emergency department, and doctors can have the results within an hour.
The study involved 215 patients who came to the Mater's emergency department with head injuries between July and December 2025. Each had a head CT scan, and each also had the blood test for traumatic brain injury. The findings were published on Wednesday in the British Journal of Neurosurgery. The blood test is quicker to give and to return results, and it is less burdensome for the patient than a scan.
The central result is that the test correctly identified every head injury, 100pc, that the CT scans detected. Dr Paula O'Shea, a consultant clinical biochemist at the Mater and an adjunct clinical lecturer and assistant professor at University College Dublin, said the test used was a combined GFAP/UCH-L1 blood test. She said that adjusting the result thresholds for older patients could safely double the number of people who avoid an unnecessary CT scan. From a laboratory point of view, she said, what matters is a test that is reliable, timely and impactful.
The interest from emergency medicine is practical. Dr Etimbuk Umana, a consultant in emergency medicine at the Mater and an adjunct senior lecturer at UCD, pointed to the very high numbers of patients arriving at emergency departments across the country and said new ways to streamline patient flow are needed. In his view the BAMBI pilot shows the biomarkers could cut the number of patients needing CT scans. That would shorten waits, ease possible overcrowding and improve the experience and quality of care.
Professor O'Halloran, who is also Neurotrauma Clinical Lead for the Society of British Neurological Surgeons and a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, called the research a significant milestone in managing traumatic brain injury in Ireland. He compared the direction of travel to modern cancer care, with a more personalised, molecular approach to diagnosis and treatment. He said there are tangible benefits for patients, clinicians and hospitals, and a potential economic impact that his team is still analysing.
The pilot is not the end of the work. Professor O'Halloran and Dr O'Shea have received HSE Spark Innovation funding to expand the project. The next phase will recruit 2,000 patients and examine how the test performs as part of routine emergency department care, a harder setting than a pilot of 215 patients. That larger study, along with the economic analysis, is what to watch next.
Citations marquantes
Adjusting result thresholds for older patients could safely double the number of people who avoid unnecessary CT scans.— Dr Paula O'Shea, Consultant Clinical Biochemist, Mater Hospital
The research is a significant milestone in the management of patients with traumatic brain injury in Ireland.— Prof Phil O'Halloran, consultant neurosurgeon
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