Serum superoxide dismutase changes in patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome due to acute cerebral infarction-induced systemic inflammatory response syndrome

Abstract

Objective To investigate the incidences of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) in patients with acute cerebral infarction (ACI) and explore the role of serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) content in ACI-induced SIRS and its progression to MODS. Methods Sixty-eight ACI patients were in hospital and outpatient at the Heze Municipal Hospital from Jan.2006 to Jun.2008, including 36 with uncomplicated ACI (SACI group), 32 with ACl-induced SIRS (SIRS group), and 24 with ACI-induced MODS (MODS group) were enrolled in this study, with 28 healthy individuals from the hospital as the normal control group. Xanthine oxidase method was used to measure the serum SOD content in these subjects. Results SACI induced SIRS and MODS in 88.9% and 66.7% of these patients, respectively; in the ACI patients with SIRS, 75.0% had concurrent MODS, while all the patients with MODS showed the presence of SIRS. The serum SOD contents in patients with SACI, SIRS, and MODS were significantly lower than those in the normal control group (P<0.05). Patients with SIRS and MODS had significantly lower serum SOD contents than the SACI patients (P<0.05), and the MODS patients had significantly lower levels than the SIRS patients (P<0.05). The serum SOD content was significantly lower in patients with severe MODS (with a score no less than 9) than in those with milder MODS (with a score below 9) (P<0.05), and also significantly lower in fatal MODS cases than in surviving MODS cases (P<0.05). Conclusion ACI may initially trigger the occurrence of SIRS and then lead to MODS, and the abnormalities in serum SOD content in patients with ACI-induced SIRS can be a possible mechanism of MODS following ACI. The serum SOD levels may help estimate the severity of ACI-induced SIRS and MODS, and may serve as an indicator for predicting the prognosis and outcomes of the patients. Key words: Acute cerebral infarction; Systemic inflammatory response syndrome; Mutiple organ dysfunction syndrome; Superoxide dismutase