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MDPI, Journal of Clinical Medicine, 11(10), p. 2268, 2021

DOI: 10.3390/jcm10112268

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High Interleukin-6 Plasma Concentration upon Admission Is Predictive of Massive Transfusion in Severely Injured Patients

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Severe bleeding remains a prominent cause of early in-hospital mortality in major trauma patients. Thus, prompt prediction of patients at risk of massive transfusion (MT) is crucial. We investigated the ability of the inflammatory marker interleukin (IL)-6 to forecast MT in severely injured trauma patients. IL-6 plasma levels were measured upon admission. Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs) were calculated, and sensitivity and specificity were determined. In this retrospective study, a total of 468 predominantly male (77.8%) patients, with a median injury severity score (ISS) of 25 (17–34), were included. The Youden index for the prediction of MT within 6 and 24 h was 351 pg/mL. Patients were dichotomized into two groups: (i) low-IL-6 < 350 pg/mL and (ii) high-IL-6 ≥ 350 pg/mL. IL-6 ≥ 350 pg/mL was associated with a lower prothrombin time index, a higher activated partial thromboplastin time, and a lower fibrinogen concentration compared with IL-6 < 350 pg/mL (p <0.0001 for all). Thromboelastometric parameters were significantly different between groups (p <0.03 in all). More patients in the high-IL-6 group received MT (p <0.0001). The ROCs revealed an area under the curve of 0.76 vs. 0.82 for the high-IL-6 group for receiving MT in the first 6 and 24 h. IL-6 ≥ 350 pg/mL predicted MT within 6 and 24 h with a sensitivity of 45% and 58%, respectively, and a specificity of 89%. IL-6 ≥ 350 pg/mL appears to be a reasonable early predictor for coagulopathy and MT within the first 6 and 24 h intervals. Large-scale prospective studies are warranted to confirm these findings.