Absence of Stress Hyperglycemia Indicates the Most Severe Form of Blunt Liver Trauma (AAST V) – A Register Analysis

Abstract

Background: Stress hyperglycemia is common in trauma patients. Increasing injury severity and hemorrhage is known to trigger hepatic gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis and also peripheral and hepatic insulin resistance. Consequently, we expect glucose levels to rise with injury severity in liver, kidney and spleen injuries. In contrast, we hypothesized that in the most severe form of blunt liver injury, stress hyperglycemia may be absent despite critical injury and hemorrhage.Methods: All patients with documented liver, kidney or spleen injuries, treated at a single, university hospital in Austria between 2000 and 2020 were charted in a register. Besides demographic, laboratory, radiological, surgical and other data were analyzed.Results: A total of 772 patients were included. In liver (n=456), spleen (n=375) and kidney (n=152) trauma, an increasing injury severity past moderate to severe (AAST III-IV) was associated with a concomitant rise in blood glucose levels independent of the affected organ. While this stress induced hyperglycemia was even more pronounced in the most severe forms (AAST V) of spleen (median 10.7 mmol/L, p<0.0001) and kidney injuries (median 10.6 mmol/L, p=0.004), it was absent in AAST V liver injuries, where median blood glucose level even fell (5.6 mmol/L, p<0.0001). Conclusions: Absence of stress hyperglycemia is a sign of most severe liver injury (AAST V) and should prompt fundamental diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Blood glucose should be considered as an additional diagnostic criterion in liver injury.