The correlation between the TRISS trauma score and plasma levels of NO and TBARS in multiply traumatized patients following traffic accident.

BACKGROUND: There are controversies on determination of trauma severity and on predicting effects of trauma severity on organism in patients with multiple trauma. It is of great importance to rule out these controversies in Turkey where incidence of multiple trauma due to traffic accidents is considerably high. The aim of our study was to investigate whether a correlation exists between trauma severity and plasma levels of nitric oxide and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance in patients with multiple trauma. METHODS: The patients with multiple trauma were divided into two groups as the study group (TRISS score 30 or above) and the control group (TRISS score below 30) and the relationship between plasma NO and TBARS levels was evaluated. In our study, we used the TRISS trauma score (Revised Trauma Score, Injury Severity Score and Age Combination Index) to evaluate trauma severity. RESULTS: There was no effect of trauma severity on plasma NO levels (p > 0.05). There was a positive correlation between TRISS scores and plasma TBARS levels (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It can be suggested that measurement of plasma NO levels is not useful to indicate trauma severity because change in TRISS is not associated with a correlated change in plasma NO levels. On the other hand, there is a significant correlation between plasma TBARS levels and increase in trauma severity.