Use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Acute Traumatic Brain Injury Patients is Associated with Lower Inpatient Mortality

Objectives: While magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has higher sensitivity than computed tomography for certain types of traumatic brain injury (TBI), it remains unknown whether the increased detection of intracranial injuries leads to improved clinical outcomes in acute TBI patients, especially given the resource requirements involved in performing MRI. We leveraged a large national patient database to examine associations between brain MRI utilization and inpatient clinical outcomes in hospitalized TBI patients. Material and Methods: The National Inpatient Sample database was queried to find 3,075 and 340,090 hospitalized TBI patients with and without brain MRI, respectively, between 2012 and 2014 in the United States. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to independently evaluate the association between brain MRI utilization and inpatient mortality rate, complications, and resource requirements. Results: The MRI group had a lower unadjusted mortality rate of 0.75% compared to 2.54% in the non-MRI group. On multivariate regression analysis, inpatient brain MRI was independently associated with lower mortality (adjusted OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.12-0.86), as well as higher rates of intracranial hemorrhage (adjusted OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.27-3.81) and non-home discharge (adjusted OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.07-1.67). Brain MRI was independently associated with 3.4 days (P < 0.001) and $8,934 (P < 0.001) increase in the total length and cost of hospital stay, respectively. Conclusion: We present the first evidence that inpatient brain MRI in TBI patients is associated with lower inpatient mortality, but with increased hospital resource utilization and likelihood of non-home discharge.