The Role of Accessible Biomarkers in the Management of Traumatic Brain Injury in Resource-Limited Settings

The Diagnostic Divide: Bridging the Infrastructure Gap The global neurosurgical community is facing a critical disparity in the management of traumatic brain injury (TBI). While high-income regions benefit from advanced neuroimaging and real-time neuromonitoring, a starkly different reality persists in resource-limited settings (RLS).[ 1 ] In these areas, where the TBI burden—primarily from road traffic accidents—is disproportionately high, gold standard care remains an aspirational luxury. The limited access to reliable computed tomographic (CT) scanning and specialized neuro-intensive care units creates a diagnostic void, often leading to preventable morbidity and mortality.[ 2 ] We must address this diagnostic divide not by waiting for infrastructure parity, but by leveraging the pragmatic potential of a tiered biomarker strategy. Author's Contribution O.O.A.: responsible for conceptualization, writing, and editing the original draft as well as reviewing and approving the final version of the manuscript. Publication History Article published online: 29 June 2026 © 2026. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Private Limited A-13A, Graphix Tower 1, 6th floor, Sector 62, Noida 201309, Uttar Pradesh, India