Soluble Factors in the Serum of Severely Burned Patients

Burn patients still represent a critical patient collective with a high mortality rate although treatment technologies have improved over the years. One problem healthcare professionals face is the fact that reliable biomarker which predict the clinical outcome, the onset of sepsis, and monitor the severity of disease in burn patients are still missing. These biomarkers would allow an early adoption of treatment modalities to improve the outcome and prevent life-threatening complications.

Blood samples from severely burned patients will be collected over a period of five days and different cytokines (for example the macrophage migration inhibitory factor protein family) will be measured in the serum. Clinical data of the patients (sepsis, total body surface area of burns, abbreviated burn severity index, sepsis-related organ failure assessment, etc.) will be documented and correlated to the levels of soluble factors.