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Blood Count Profiles as Biomarkers in Burns: Red Cells, Platelets, and Beyond

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Biomarkers in Trauma, Injury and Critical Care

Abstract

The search for biomarkers that help physicians in medical practice has been a topic of great interest in the last decades. Burned patients represent a particular challenge due to the non-infectious systemic inflammatory response that characterizes thermal injury and the high incidence of sepsis in this population. Procalcitonin, a classic biomarker of infection, has demonstrated utility for identification of sepsis in burned patients. In contrast, C-reactive protein does not seem to improve infection diagnostic accuracy in this population. Diverse cytokines have also been studied as potential biomarkers in burned patients. Among these, interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 have shown a predictive value for different outcomes. Considering the importance of availability of biomarkers in everyday clinical practice, parameters derived from complete blood count have raised as interesting tools. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and RDW-to-platelet ratio (RPR) have demonstrated usefulness in burned patients. A dynamic profile of these biomarkers can be observed, with significant differences between survivors and non-survivors. The integration of some of these biomarkers with clinical scores could help physicians to better understand and treat burned patients.

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Abbreviations

AKI:

Acute kidney injury

ARDS:

Acute respiratory distress syndrome

AUC:

Area under the curve

BALF:

Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid

CBC:

Complete blood count

COPD:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

CRP:

C-reactive protein

FEV1:

Forced expiratory volume in 1 s

FVC:

Forced vital capacity

Hb:

Hemoglobin

Htc:

Hematocrit

IL-6:

Interleukin-6

IL-10:

Interleukin-10

IL-1a:

Interleukin-1a

IL-8:

Interleukin-8

LAP:

Latency-associated peptide

MCP-1:

Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1

MLR:

Monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio

MODS:

Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome

MPV:

Mean platelet volume

NF-κB:

Nuclear transcription factor kappa B

NGAL:

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin

NLR:

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio

PC:

Platelet count

PCT:

Procalcitonin

PLR:

Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio

RBC:

Red blood cell count

RDW:

Red blood cell distribution width

RPR:

Ratio between RDW and platelet count

SIRS:

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome

TBSA:

Total body surface area

TNF-α:

Tumor necrosis factor-α

WBC:

White blood cells

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Aramendi, I., Angulo, M., Burghi, G. (2023). Blood Count Profiles as Biomarkers in Burns: Red Cells, Platelets, and Beyond. In: Rajendram, R., Preedy, V.R., Patel, V.B. (eds) Biomarkers in Trauma, Injury and Critical Care. Biomarkers in Disease: Methods, Discoveries and Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07395-3_19

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