CriSP-TBI Research Study Launched

Pittsburgh, March 1, 2021 -- The University of Pittsburgh Neurotrauma Clinical Trials Center has launched a research study—The Cold-stored Platelet Early Intervention in Traumatic Brain Injury study (CriSP-TBI)—to help determine whether giving early cold-stored platelets to traumatic brain injury patients will help stop the injury from getting worse.

Traumatic brain injury patients normally get platelets—part of the blood that helps clotting—stored at room temperature as part of their care. For this study, some TBI patients in the emergency room will be randomly picked to get cold-stored platelets. Other patients will get the usual care, which could include room temperature platelets. Researchers will also do blood tests and collect information from health records for both groups as part of the study. They will look at both groups of patients and see if one group did better than the other.

CriSP-TBI is a three-year, single-center trial that will enroll approximately 100 patients at select UPMC hospitals who are 18-years-old or older and are suffering from acute traumatic brain injury. 

CriSP-TBI is an “exception from informed consent” (EFIC) trial, meaning that the trial requires performing a potentially life-saving procedure in people who are too injured to give permission to be enrolled. Patients will be asked for their permission for further participation once they (or their family members) are able to provide it.

For more information on CriSP-TBI, please visit the study's webpage.

To complete an anonymous survey on your thoughts about this EFIC study, please visit litesnetwork.org/CriSP-TBI.