Evaluation and comparison of serum biomarkers in Patients after lower limb fractures

Abstract

Background: Immediately after the bone injury and trauma, the changes in the concentrations of serum biomarkers initiates the cascading effects on the process of bone remodelling, but these cascading effects directly related to fracture size and time of healing of the bone fracture. Our study highlights the interplay between various serum biomarkers and healing of lower limb fractures during a study period of six months. This study aimed to prospectively investigate changes in serum inflammatory biomarker levels from the normal healthy control group and patient group. Materials and Methods: In our study, the normal individuals accompanying orthopaedic patients who were visiting/admitted in the OPD and Emergency departments were formally enrolled for this study. A total number of thirty lower limb fracture patients who demonstrate progressive improvement during 12 consecutive weeks (3 Months) were enrolled in this study. These patients also provided their serum samples for biochemical estimation. The estimation and comparison in serum biomarkers' levels have been analysed in concern with their ability to predict impaired fracture healing at an early stage. All this consolidated data was analysed using SPSS software. Results: The observations and estimations of this study highlight the statistically significant correlations between TNF-α, IL-1β, CRP, Calcium serum levels in Control, Fracture with Mild disability and Fracture with Moderate/Severe Disability groups. Conclusions: In routine bone healing, serum biomarkers' changes were primarily dependent on the severity of bone damage and fracture size. The delay in healing large-sized fractures with Moderate/Severe Disability warrants massive cascading changes in bone remodelling.