A biomarker panel of C-reactive protein, procalcitonin and serum amyloid A is a predictor of sepsis in severe trauma patients

Abstract

Severe trauma could induce sepsis due to the loss of control of the infection, which may eventually lead to death. Accurate and timely diagnosis of sepsis with severe trauma remains challenging both for clinician and laboratory. Combinations of markers, as opposed to single ones, may improve diagnosis. We compared the diagnostic characteristics of routinely used biomarkers of sepsis alone and in combination, trying to define a biomarker panel to predict sepsis in severe patients. This prospective observational study included patients with severe trauma (Injury severity score, ISS = 16 or more) in the emergency intensive care unit (EICU) at a university hospital. Blood samples were collected and plasma levels of procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and serum amyloid A (SAA) were measured using commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. A total of 100 patients were eligible for analysis. Of these, 52 were diagnosed with sepsis. CRP yielded the highest discriminative value followed by PCT. In multiple logistic regression, SAA, CRP, and PCT were found to be independent predictors of sepsis. Bioscore which was composed of SAA, CRP, and PCT was shown to be far superior to that of each individual biomarker taken individually. Therefore, compared with single markers, the biomarker panel of PCT, CRP, and SAA was more predictive of sepsis in severe polytrauma patients.