Liver trauma grading and biochemistry tests

Abstract

Among solid organ blunt traumas, the liver and spleen are mostly subject to injury. In addition, the liver is also commonly injured in penetrating traumas because of its size, location, and the ease of injury to the "Glisson Capsule". Several enzymes are known to be elevated following trauma. In our study, we evaluated the correlation between the levels of serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase in 57 patients with blunt trauma to the liver and compared these values to the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma trauma grading system. Additionally, we compared the enzyme level elevations in these patients to the enzyme levels of 29 healthy subjects. As expected, we found significant elevations in enzyme levels of trauma patients compared to the control group. The calculated point estimates were not significantly different between grades 1 and 2 trauma. However, grade 3 trauma group showed a significant increase in enzyme levels.