Long-term Follow-up in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

The underlying pathophysiology following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in how different neurodegenerative conditions are developed are still unknown. Different neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative pathways have been suggested. The goal of this study is to follow-up patients that have been treated for TBI at the neurosurgical department about 10-15 years after their initial injury, in order to analyze fluid biomarkers of inflammation, injury and degeneration and associate these with structural imaging and long-term functional outcome. The investigators aim to invite about 100 patients back and perform advanced magnetic resonance imaging protocols, sample cerebrospinal fluid and blood for different bio- and inflammatory markers, study genetic modifications and associate it with outcomes being assessed through questionnaires. The investigators' hypothesis is that patients with ongoing inflammatory processes will present with more fluid biomarkers of neurodegeneration, worse clinical presentation and also more structural/atrophic signs on imaging. This will result in an increased understanding of the interplay between neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in chronic TBI, as well as a panel of tentative biomarkers that could be used to assess level of disability following TBI and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).