Changes of serum procalcitonin in multiple trauma patients

Objective To study the changes of serum procalcitonin in multiple trauma patients and determine their relationship with trauma severity, infection and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Methods The levels of serum procalcitonin, the values of injury severity score (ISS), score of acute pathologic and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (APACHEⅡ), blood routine, blood sugar, infection and MODS were determined at days 1, 3 and 7 respectively after trauma in 33 multiple trauma patients. Results The level of serum procalcitonin in multiple trauma patients was much higher than that of normal controls (P0.01= within 24 hours after injury and positively correlated with APACHEⅡ. In cases with MODS, level of serum procalcitonin, white cells, blood sugar and score of APACHEⅡ were all much higher than those of patietns with normal organ function (P 0.05 ). Conclusions Multiple trauma may induce increase of serum procalcitonin in trauma patients and positively correlate with trauma severity, neutrophils and blood sugar. Dynamic detection of procalcitonin is helpful for early discovering clinical infection and can warn occurrence of MODS.