Background: Trauma is still a major cause of mortality in people < 50 years of age. Biomarkers are needed to estimate the severity of the condition and the patient outcome. Methods: Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and further laboratory markers were determined in plasma and serum of 164 patients at time of admission to the emergency room. Among them were 64 patients with severe trauma (Injury Severity Score (ISS) ≥ 16), 51 patients with moderate trauma (ISS < 16) and 49 patients with single fractures (24 femur neck and 25 ankle fractures). Disease severity was objectified by ISS and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). Results: cfDNA levels in plasma and serum were significantly higher in patients with severe multiple trauma (SMT) than in those with moderate trauma (p = 0.002, p = 0.003, respectively) or with single fractures (each p < 0.001). CfDNA in plasma and serum correlated very strongly with each other (R = 0.91; p < 0.001). The AUC in ROC curves for identification of SMT patients was 0.76 and 0.74 for cfDNA in plasma and serum, respectively—this was further increased to 0.84 by the combination of cfDNA and hemoglobin. Within the group of multiple trauma patients, cfDNA levels were significantly higher in more severely injured patients and patients with severe traumatic brain injury (GCS ≤ 8 versus GCS > 8). Thirteen (20.3%) of the multiple trauma patients died during the first week after trauma. Levels of cfDNA were significantly higher in non-surviving patients than in survivors (p < 0.001), reaching an AUC of 0.81 for cfDNA in both, plasma and serum, which was further increased by the combination with hemoglobin and leukocytes. Conclusions: cfDNA is valuable for estimation of trauma severity and prognosis of trauma patients.
The prognostic relevance of blood markers in multiple trauma is still a matter of controversial debate. Besides clinical scores new biomarkers indicating the disease severity and the prognosis during the first hours of therapy are highly needed to improve individual patient management.In prospectively collected sera of 164 patients, among them 115 with multiple trauma, the values of circulating nucleosomes, high-mobility-group-box protein 1 (HMGB1) and soluble receptor of advanced glycation end products (sRAGE) were determined at time of admission to the resuscitation room. Disease severity and clinical status were quantified by injury severity score (ISS) and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). As controls, 24 patients with femoral neck fractures and 25 patients with ankle fractures (AFs) were included.Patients with severe multiple trauma (SMT) showed significantly higher HMGB1 and sRAGE levels than patients with moderate trauma and single fractures. Interestingly, HMGB1 and nucleosomes (R=0.56; p<0.01) as well as HMGB1 and sRAGE (R=0.44; p<0.01) correlated significantly with each other. In multiple trauma patients, high HMGB1 and sRAGE levels were significantly associated with more severe trauma according ISS (both p<0.01) and more severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) (GCS≤8; both p<0.01). Thirteen of the multiple injured patients died during the first week after trauma. Non-surviving patients showed significantly higher values of HMGB1, nucleosomes, and sRAGE than survivors (p<0.01; p=0.01; p=0.02). Best prediction of first-week mortality was obtained in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for HMGB1 that yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of 90.6%.HMGB1, nucleosomes and sRAGE are valuable biomarkers indicating trauma severity and prognosis of trauma patients.
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