Objectives: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the disruption of brain function and architecture. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is the most widely used TBI severity classification; however, it assesses the functional status of the brain resulting from highly heterogeneous lesions and has little accuracy. The Neurological Severity Classification System (NSC System), a clinical-tomographic instrument designed to overcome lesion heterogeneity, assesses brain function and structure in determining the severity of BTI.

Methods: Observational, prospective, and cross-sectional study in adults with BTI from the emergency service of the Cayetano Heredia Hospital, April - August 2020. It included patients aged 18 years or older with acute BTI. The NSC system was compared with the GCS in the BTI classification.

Results: Of 29 patients, 82.76% were male and 82.76% were between 18 and 64 years old. The severity of the TBI through the NSC System was very mild 6.70%, mild 17.24%, moderate 51.72%, severe 17.24%, and critical 6.70%. There was an association between the NSC System and the Rotterdam Computed Tomographic Score (RCTS) (p = 0.005), a moderate positive correlation of the NSC System with the RCTS (Rho 0.6773, p = 0.0001), an association between the NSC System and the indication for neurosurgical intervention (p = 0.002), as well as high sensitivity-specificity in the distinction of severity categories with the NSC System, and lower GCS performance.

Conclusions: The NSC clinical-tomographic system improves the determination of the severity of BTI in comparison with GCS and provides an excellent relationship with the indication for neurosurgical intervention.