Serum cholinesterase activity as an early indicator of systemic inflammation

AR Zivkovic,J Bender,T Brenner,K Schmidt,S Hofer

doi:10.1186/cc14132

Abstract

Early diagnosis of systemic inflammation, a generalised response to noxious stimuli, is fundamentally important for effective and goal-directed therapy. Various inflammation biomarkers have been used in clinical and experimental practice. However, a definitive diagnostic tool for an early detection of systemic inflammation remains to be identified. Acetylcholine (Ach) has been shown to play an important role in the inflammatory response. Serum cholinesterase (butyrylcholinesterase (BChE)) is the major Ach hydrolyzing enzyme in plasma. The role of this enzyme during inflammation has not yet been fully understood. Here, we describe a correlation between the BChE activity and the early systemic inflammatory response upon traumatic injury.

Highlights

To assess cerebral hemodynamics in an experimental sepsis model
Healthy bowel function is an important factor when judging the advisability of early enteral nutrition in critically ill patients
Since the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) in 2002, the Health Service Ombudsman for England published recommendations for improving recognition and treatment of sepsis [2], the Royal College of Physicians issued a toolkit for the management of sepsis in the acute medical unit [3], and NHS England released a patient safety alert to support prompt recognition and treatment of sepsis [4]

Summary

Introduction

We evaluated platelet activation markers as potential predictive markers of sepsis and of mortality among four commonly encountered populations of patients admitted to ICUs. Methods Ninety-nine non-infected ICU patients were prospectively screened at day 1 (T1) and day 3 (T2) of admission after elective cardiac surgery, trauma, acute neurologic dysfunction or prolonged ventilation (>48 hours). The present study was performed with the aim of assessing whether nursing and physician staff were able to identify patients in need of critical care using only clinical judgment and to compare this with the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) Methods This was a prospective cohort study of all adult patients with a first-time admission to a medical admission unit at a 450-bed regional teaching hospital over a 3-month period in 2010.

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