Polytrauma in Older Adults Leads to Significantly Increased TIMP-1 Levels in the Early Posttraumatic Period

Background. Patients after polytrauma regularly suffer from posttraumatic immune system destabilization, which closely influences the further clinical development. Increasing age has recently been identified as an isolated risk factor for an adverse outcome after major trauma. Higher rates and intensity of acute inflammation following severe injury suggest that deregulated inflammation may contribute to these higher rates of posttraumatic morbidity and mortality in older adults. MMP-9 and TIMP-1 have been found to play a major role in posttraumatic immune disorder in a previous genome-wide mRNA analysis. Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences in serum protein dynamics in older and younger polytraumatized adults. Methods. Blood samples were drawn immediately within 90 minutes after trauma and subsequently after 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h. Serum levels of TIMP-1 and MMP-9 were quantified using ELISA. Age groups were divided according to a cutoff of 60 years. Results. 60 polytrauma patients (ISS>16) were included (<60 years, n=49; ≥60 years, n=11). Serum TIMP-1 and MMP-9 levels showed a highly significant serum dynamic in young and old polytrauma patients (p<0.001). Patients≥60 years showed significantly higher overall TIMP-1 levels (p=0.008). TIMP-1 levels showed a significant maximum after 72 h in the older study population. MMP-9 levels were nonsignificantly higher during the whole observational period in older polytrauma patients when compared to younger patients. Conclusion. The posttraumatic immune response is characterized by significantly higher TIMP-1 levels in older polytrauma patients. This significant association between TIMP-1 levels and patients’ age indicates a more extensive immune dysregulation following major trauma in older adults

The potential of adipokines in identifying multiple trauma patients at risk of developing multiple organ dysfunction syndrome

BACKGROUND: Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and the consecutive multiple organ failure (MOF) are severe and dreaded complications with a high mortality in multiple trauma patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of the adipokines leptin, resistin, interleukin-17A and interleukin-33 as possible biomarkers in the early posttraumatic inflammatory response and for identifying severely traumatized patients at risk of developing MODS. METHODS: In total, 14 multiple trauma patients with an injury severity score (ISS) ≥ 16 as well as a control group of 14 non-multiple trauma patients were included in this study and blood samples were taken at the time points 0, 6, 24, 48 and 72 h after admission. For the trauma patients, the SIRS and Denver MOF score were determined daily. The quantitative measurement of the plasma concentrations of the adipokines was performed using ELISA. RESULTS: In the statistical analysis, the multiple trauma patients showed statistically significant higher plasma concentrations of leptin, resistin, IL-17A and IL-33 compared to the control group. In addition, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the concentrations of resistin, IL-17A and IL-33 and the corresponding SIRS scores and between the concentrations of resistin, IL-17A and IL-33 and the corresponding Denver MOF scores. Finally, ROC curve analysis revealed that the adipokines leptin and IL-17A are suitable diagnostic markers for the discrimination between multiple trauma patients with and without MOF. CONCLUSIONS: Leptin and IL-17A could be suitable diagnostic markers to identify severely injured patients with a developing SIRS and MOF earlier, to adjust surgical therapy planning and intensive care

MCCD ventilation - Case-Figure 7

The patient received a ventilation rate of 100 breaths per minute. This rate corresponds with the MCCD frequency and ventilation was being triggered in each decompression phase. The drop in the ventilation rate between 18:50 and 19:10 minutes was due to a leak in the airway circuit. During the period of automatic ventilation, oxygen saturation was between 80 and 90%. Thus, the patient was adequately ventilated. The etCO2 ranged between 22-30mmHg from the beginning of the recording till 23:28 minutes after, suggesting good quality CPR with adequate circulation. After 23:28 min there was an increase in etCO₂ up to 43mmHg, an early indicator of ROSC. The steep decrease after 24:32 min was due to the cessation of ventilation and chest compressions, and hence a cessation in CO₂-exhalation. The patient had a ROSC after 25 minutes

Serum GFAP and UCH-L1 for prediction of absence of intracranial injuries on head CT (ALERT-TBI): a multicentre observational study

BACKGROUND: More than 50 million people worldwide sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) annually. Detection of intracranial injuries relies on head CT, which is overused and resource intensive. Blood-based brain biomarkers hold the potential to predict absence of intracranial injury and thus reduce unnecessary head CT scanning. We sought to validate a test combining ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), at predetermined cutoff values, to predict traumatic intracranial injuries on head CT scan acutely after TBI. METHODS: This prospective, multicentre observational trial included adults (>/=18 years) presenting to participating emergency departments with suspected, non-penetrating TBI and a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 9-15. Patients were eligible if they had undergone head CT as part of standard emergency care and blood collection within 12 h of injury. UCH-L1 and GFAP were measured in serum and analysed using prespecified cutoff values of 327 pg/mL and 22 pg/mL, respectively. UCH-L1 and GFAP assay results were combined into a single test result that was compared with head CT results. The primary study outcomes were the sensitivity and the negative predictive value (NPV) of the test result for the detection of traumatic intracranial injury on head CT. FINDINGS: Between Dec 6, 2012, and March 20, 2014, 1977 patients were recruited, of whom 1959 had analysable data. 125 (6%) patients had CT-detected intracranial injuries and eight (<1%) had neurosurgically manageable injuries. 1288 (66%) patients had a positive UCH-L1 and GFAP test result and 671 (34%) had a negative test result. For detection of intracranial injury, the test had a sensitivity of 0.976 (95% CI 0.931-0.995) and an NPV of 0.996 (0.987-0.999). In three (<1%) of 1959 patients, the CT scan was positive when the test was negative. INTERPRETATION: These results show the high sensitivity and NPV of the UCH-L1 and GFAP test. This supports its potential clinical role for ruling out the need for a CT scan among patients with TBI presenting at emergency departments in whom a head CT is felt to be clinically indicated. Future studies to determine the value added by this biomarker test to head CT clinical decision rules could be warranted. FUNDING: Banyan Biomarkers and US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command