Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is highly prevalent, affecting ~1% of the U.S. population, with lifetime economic costs estimated to be over $75 billion. In the U.S., there are about 50,000 deaths annually related to TBI, and many others are permanently disabled. However, it is currently unknown which individuals will develop persistent disability following TBI and what brain mechanisms underlie these distinct populations. The pathophysiologic causes for those are most likely multifactorial. Electroencephalogram (EEG) has been used as a promising quantitative measure for TBI diagnosis and prognosis. The recent rise of advanced data science approaches such as machine learning and deep learning holds promise to further analyze EEG data, looking for EEG biomarkers of neurological disease, including TBI. In this work, we investigated various machine learning approaches on our unique 24-hour recording dataset of a mouse TBI model, in order to look for an optimal scheme in classification of TBI and control subjects. The epoch lengths were 1 and 2 minutes. The results were promising with accuracy of ~80-90% when appropriate features and parameters were used using a small number of subjects (5 shams and 4 TBIs). We are thus confident that, with more data and studies, we would be able to detect TBI accurately, not only via long-term recordings but also in practical scenarios, with EEG data obtained from simple wearables in the daily life.

Due to the difficulties and complications in the quantitative assessment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its increasing relevance in today's world, robust detection of TBI has become more significant than ever. In this work, we investigate several machine learning approaches to assess their performance in classifying electroencephalogram (EEG) data of TBI in a mouse model. Algorithms such as decision trees (DT), random forest (RF), neural network (NN), support vector machine (SVM), K-nearest neighbors (KNN) and convolutional neural network (CNN) were analyzed based on their performance to classify mild TBI (mTBI) data from those of the control group in wake stages for different epoch lengths. Average power in different frequency sub-bands and alpha:theta power ratio in EEG were used as input features for machine learning approaches. Results in this mouse model were promising, suggesting similar approaches may be applicable to detect TBI in humans in practical scenarios.