Methods for aiding in the determination of whether to perform imaging on a human subject who has sustained or may have sustained an injury to the head using early biomarkers

A method of aiding in the determination of whether to perform an imaging procedure on a human subject that has sustained or may have sustained an injury to the head, the method comprising:

• a) performing an assay on a sample obtained from the subject within about 24 hours after a suspected injury to the head to measure or detect a level of an early biomarker in the sample, said early biomarker comprising ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), or a combination thereof, in the sample;
• and
• b) determining whether to perform an imaging procedure on the subject when the level of the early biomarker in the sample is higher than a reference level of the early biomarker and not performing an imaging procedure on the subject when the level of the early biomarker in the sample is lower than a reference level of the early biomarker,
• wherein the reference level is (a) determined by an assay having a sensitivity of between at least about 70% to 100% and a specificity of between at least about 30% to 100%;
• or (b) between at least about 20 pg/mL to about 200 pg/mL.