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Introduction Secondary brain injury is the main cause of mortality from traumatic brain injury (TBI). One hallmark of TBI is intracranial hemorrhage, which occurs in 40-50% of severe TBI cases. Early identification of intracranial hematomas in TBI patients allows early surgical evacuation and can reduce the case fatality rate of TBI. As pre-hospital care is the weakest part of Chinese emergency care, there is an urgent need for a capability to detect brain hematomas early. In China, in addition to preventing injuries and diseases in military staff and in enhancing the military armed forces during war, military medicine participates in actions such as emergency public health crises, natural disasters, emerging conflicts, and anti-terrorist campaigns during peacetime. The purpose of this observational study is to evaluate in the Chinese military general hospital the performance of a near-infrared (NIR)-based portable device, developed for US Military, in the detection of traumatic intracranial hematomas. The endpoint of the study was a description of the test characteristics (sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values [NPV]) of the portable NIR-based device in identification of hematomas within its detection limits (volume >3.5 mL and depth