Influencing factors for persistent inflammation, immunosuppression, and catabolism syndrome in patients with severe acute pancreatitis and establishment of a predictive model / 临床肝胆病杂志

Objective To investigate the influencing factors for persistent inflammation, immunosuppression, and catabolism syndrome (PICS) in patients with severe acute pancreatitis(SAP), and to establish a predictive model. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 163 patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit and the emergency intensive care unit due to SAP in The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from May 2012 to May 2022, and according to the diagnostic criteria for PICS, these patients were divided into PICS group (65 SAP patients with PICS) and non-PICS group (98 SAP patients without PICS). The independent-samples t test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups, and the Mann-Whitney U rank sum test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups; the chi-square test or the Fisher's exact test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. Variance inflation factor and correlation matrix heatmap were used to evaluate multicollinearity between variables, and Lasso regression and multivariate logistic regression were used to identify independent risk factors and establish a nomogram predictive model. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the calibration curve, and the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test were used for the internal validation of the model, and the decision curve was used to evaluate the clinical practicability of the model. Results The univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences between the PICS group and the non-PICS group in mean arterial pressure, hemoglobin, hematocrit (HCT), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, Glasgow coma score, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ) score, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, mechanical ventilation, acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute kidney injury (AKI), acute liver injury, hypovolemic shock, sepsis, intra-abdominal hypertension, intra-abdominal hemorrhage, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (all P < 0.05). The Lasso regression analysis showed that related predictive variables included PLR, HCT, APACHE Ⅱ, SOFA, mechanical ventilation, AKI, hypovolemic shock, and intra-abdominal hypertension, and the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that PLR (odds ratio [ OR ]=1.006, P < 0.05), mechanical ventilation ( OR =4.324, P < 0.05), AKI ( OR =3.432, P < 0.05), and hypovolemic shock ( OR = 6.910, P < 0.05) were independent risk factors for PICS in patients with SAP. Model fitting was performed for the above factors, and bootstrap internal validation showed that the nomogram model had an area under the ROC curve of 0.874 (95% confidence interval: 0.822-0.925); the calibration curve of the model was close to the reference curve, and the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test showed that the model was well fitted ( χ 2 =8.895, P =0.351). The decision curve analysis showed that the predictive model had good clinical practicability. Conclusion PLR, mechanical ventilation, AKI, and hypovolemic shock are independent risk factors for PICS in patients with SAP, and the nomogram model established has good discriminatory ability, calibration, and clinical practicability.

Early risk factors for persistent inflammation immunosuppression and catabolism syndrome in patients with severe polytrauma / 中华急诊医学杂志

Objective:To retrospectively assess early risk factor of persistent inflammation, immunosuppression and catabolism syndrome (PICS) in patients with severe polytrauma, in order to deepen the understanding of the pathological changes of chronic critical illness (CCI) after severe polytrauma.Methods:A total of 276 patients with severe polytrauma admitted to Department of Trauma Surgery of Tongji Hospital from March 2019 to December 2020 were enrolled. Inclusion criteria included patients who suffered severe polytrauma, and injury severity score (ISS) ≥27, age ≥18 years old, and had length of hospital stay >15 days. Exclusion criteria included previous medical history of malignancy, or immunological, consumptive, and metabolic diseases. The patient’s clinical characteristics, ISS scores, Glasgow coma scale (GCS), sequential organ failure assessment, APACHEⅡ scores, and nutrition and immune indexes on day 3 after injury were collected. The difference between the PICS group and N-PICS group were performed by Student’s t test, χ2 test or Mann-Whitney U test. The early risk factors were assessed in patients with PICS after severe polytrauma by logistic regression analysis. Results:According to the diagnostic criteria of PICS, all enrolled patients were divided into two groups: PICS group ( n=102) and N-PICS group (without PICS, n=174). Compared with the N-PICS group, patients in the PICS group were older and associated with more brain and chest injuries. On the third day after injury, serum levels of IL-6 and IL-10, and the ratio of Treg cells were significantly higher, the number and ratio of NK cells subset, and the ratio of activated T lymphocyte were significantly lower in the PICS group than in the N-PICS group ( P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the age>65 years old ( OR=2.375, 95% CI: 1.442-4.531), GCS ≤8 scores ( OR=3.431, 95% CI: 1.843-8.512), IL-10 >10 pg/mL ( OR=2.173, 95% CI: 1.751-5.614), the ratio of Treg cells >7% ( OR=3.871, 95% CI: 1.723-6.312), and the occurrence of traumatic brain and chest injuries ( OR=2.846, 95% CI: 1.522-5.361) were the early risk factors in patients with PICS after severe polytrauma. Conclusions:Age>65 years old, GCS score, IL-10, the ratio of Treg cells, and the occurrence of traumatic brain and chest injuries could be used as the early risk factors in patients with PICS after severe polytrauma. The discovery of early risk factors will help identify patients at high risk of PICS after severe polytrauma, and create the possibility for early intervention.

A prospective study of clinical characteristics and prognosis in patients with persistent inflammation, immunosuppression and catabolism syndrome after polytrauma / 中华急诊医学杂志

Objective:To prospectively assess clinical characteristics, potential causes and prognosis in patients with persistent inflammation, immunosuppression and catabolism syndrome (PICS) after polytrauma.Methods:Totally 1 083 patients with polytrauma admitted to Department of Traumatic Surgery of Tongji Hospital from Janury 2019 to July 2020 were enrolled. Exclusion criteria included age<18 years old, length of hospital stay<15 days, previous medical history of malignancy, or immunological, consumptive, and metabolic diseases. According to the diagnostic criteria of PICS, all enrolled patients were divided into two groups: PICS group and N-PICS group (without PICS). The patient’s clinical characteristics, ISS score, GCS score, SOFA score, and prognosis were collected. The χ2 test or Student’s t test was uesd to compare the difference between the PICS group and N-PICS group. Results:The incidence of PICS in patients with polytrauma was 11.7% (127/1 083). The majority of PICS patients were middle-aged and elderly men, 68.5% with traumatic brain injury and 59% with thoracic injury. GCS score was significantly lower, while ISS, APACHE II and SOFA scores were significantly higher in the PICS group than in the N-PICS group ( P<0.01, P<0.05). Among PICS patients, 79.5% were treated with mechanical ventilation and 76.3% were associated with pulmonary infection, with a 28-day mortality of 5.5% and a 180-day mortality of 16.5%, which were siginifcantly different from those without PICS. Conclusions:PICS has a high incidence after polytrauma and is commonly seen in middle-aged and elderly male patients with severe polytrauma, especially accompanied by traumatic brain injury or/and thoracic injury. Patients with PICS after polytrauma have poor long-term prognosis, so early identification and intervention should be strengthened in clinical practice.

Advances in the research of persistent inflammation-immunosuppression-catabolism syndrome in severe burn / 中华烧伤杂志

Persistent inflammation-immunosuppression-catabolism syndrome (PICS) is a clinical syndrome in patients surviving from severe trauma or sepsis, which is characterized by prolonged stays in intensive care unit, persistent inflammation response, immune suppression, high protein catabolism, and high mortality. This article aims to review the proposed process of the concept, the mechanism, the clinical features, and the diagnosis and treatment progress of PICS, which is helpful for further understanding pathogenesis and pathophysiological mechanism of PICS in patients with severe burns and improving clinical curative efficacy and prognosis of patients with severe burns.

Nutritional support therapy during treatment of chronic critical illness / 中华胃肠外科杂志

Chronic critical illness (CCI) refers to a group of critically ill patients who survive the acute phase of intensive care, but with persistent organ dysfunction, thus entering a chronic period of continuous dependence on life support system, and still need to stay in intensive care unit (ICU) for a long time. Persistent inflammatory response-immunosuppression-catabolic syndrome (PICS) is the main pathophysiological feature of CCI. Three factors interact to form a vicious circle, leading to poor prognosis. Nutritional support therapy is a key link in the comprehensive treatment of CCI. Enteral nutrition (EN) should be started as soon as possible if conditions permit. If EN can not be implemented, temporary or transitional parenteral nutrition (PN) should be used, and EN should be added gradually in time. At the same time, the amount of PN should be gradually reduced. When EN meets more than 60% of patients’ energy and protein requirements, PN can be considered to be discontinued. The main strategies and functions of CCI nutritional support therapy are as follows: strengthening high protein supply to correct negative nitrogen balance and inhibit catabolism, selecting branched chain amino acids (BCAA) to promote anabolism, using immunomodulators (arginine, ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acids) to improve immune suppression and inflammatory response, supplementing micronutrients (vitamins and trace elements) to counteract the decrease in intake and the increase in consumption, and adding probiotics to maintain the intestinal microecological balance, and so on. Reasonable nutritional support therapy not only improve malnutrition of CCI patients, but also help to reduce complications, thus speeding up rehabilitation, improving prognosis, shortening ICU hospitalization time, and even reducing mortality.

Advances in the research of severe burn-related corticosteroid insufficiency / 中华烧伤杂志

Despite considerable advances in diagnosis and treatment of the critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency (CIRCI), it is still not clear that whether it is common in severe burn patients or not, and how clinical diagnosis, treatment, and research progress. Severe burn is a systemic disease involving the damage of multiple organs of the whole body. The course of the disease is relatively long, and there often exists persistent inflammation, immunosuppression, and catabolism. On the basis of CIRCI study, the epidemiological evidence, possible mechanism, suspicious clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment of severe burn-related corticosteroid insufficiency (SBRCI) were briefly reviewed in this article in order to help clinical diagnosis and treatment of SBRCI.

Persistent inflammation, immune-suppression and catabolism syndrome secondary to sepsis in elderly patients in medical intensive care unit:a retrospective study / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics,risk factors and prognosis of patients with persistent inflammation,immune-suppression and catabolism syndrome(PICS)secondary to sepsis in medical intensive care unit(MICU)in initial stage,in order to increase the understanding of PICS and provide the reference experience for the early screening of high-risk patients.Methods A total of 298 elderly patients diagnosed as sepsis admitted into MICU from Aug.2013 to Dec.2016 were retrospectively studied.Of them,97 patients meeting inclusion criteria were ultimately enrolled and separated into the PICS group and the non-PICS group.General and clinical data and laboratory indexes at first day admitted into MICU were compared between the two groups.The indexes between the two groups were analyzed statistically by multivariate logistic regression analysis.The survival-time distributions were estimated by Kaplan-Meier model,and the difference in prognosis was compared between the two groups.Results Of 97 patients,36 patients (37.1％)met the diagnosis of PICS.The acute physiological function and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ) score had a significant difference between the two groups(27.7±5.8 vs.22.9±6.0,P＜0.01).The grade of acute gastrointestinal injury(AGI)were significantly higher in the PICS group than in the non-PICS group(P ＜0.05).Platelet counts,helper T cell counts and CD4+/CD8+ ratios were significantly lower in the PICS group than in the non-PICS group[(164.39 ± 84.29) × 109/L vs.(235.16 ± 126.89) × 109/L,(238.97± 181.11)/μl vs.(385.93±308.22)/μl,(1.58 ± 1.13) vs.(2.12± 1.23),all P ＜0.05)].Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that APACHE Ⅱ score was an independent risk factor for PICS and its optimal cut-off value for predicting PICS was 26.5.Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the overall survival was poorer in the PICS group than in non-PICS group in the whole observation phase.The further Kaplan-Meier analysis on survival time of subdivisions showed that the survival of patients at 90-day and 180-day after admission and in stage 1-3 during one year had significant differences between the two groups (P ＜ 0.05).While the survival of patients at 28-day after admission had no significant difference between the two groups(P＞0.05).Conclusions The elderly patients with persistent inflammation,immune-suppression,and catabolism syndrome(PICS) secondary to sepsis in medical intensive care unit(MICU)show the higher levels of APACHE Ⅱ score and AGI grade,and lower values of platelet counts,CD4+ T cell counts and CD4+/CD8+ ratio in initial stage.And APACHE Ⅱ score is an independent risk factor for PICS in elderly sepsis patients,and the optimal cut-off value of APACHE Ⅱ score for predicting PICS is 26.5.The prognosis for advanced stage and long term prognosis are poor.It is essential to use APACHE Ⅱ and so on,to timely identify and intervene PICS.

Risk factors and prognosis of persistent inflammation-immunosuppressive catabolism syndrome in malignant tumor patients with lung infection after chemotherapy / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective To investigate the risk factors and prognosis of persistent inflammation-immunosuppressive catabolism syndrome (PICS) in malignant tumor patients with lung infection after chemotherapy.Methods A total of 128 malignant tumor patients with pulmonary infection after chemotherapy from January 2014 to January 2018 in Jilin Cancer Hospital were collected.According to whether the patients were complicated with PICS,the patients were divided into the PICS group (44 cases) and the control group (84 cases).The clinical characteristics and prognosis of the two groups were compared,and the risk factors of PICS during hospitalization were analyzed.Results The acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) Ⅱ score and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score in the PICS group were higher than those in the control group [(18.6±3.8) vs.(15.9±4.0),t =3.598,P ＜ 0.01;(4.8±1.5) vs.(4.0±1.6),t =2.832,P =0.005].When compared with the control group,the proportion of lung cancer in the PICS group was increased [47.7％ (21/44) vs.23.8％ (20/84),x2 =8.378,P =0.006],and the albumin was decreased [(28.8±3.3) g/L vs.(30.8±2.9) g/L,t =3.695,P ＜ 0.01],the C reactive protein was increased [(60±8) mg/L vs.(45±8) mg/L,t =9.520,P ＜ 0.01],hospital duration was prolonged [(33±7) d vs.(26±7) d,t =4.820,P ＜ 0.01],hospital mortality was increased [22.7％ (10/44) vs.4.8％ (4/84),x2 =9.567,P =0.002].Multiple factor logistic regression analysis showed that the APACHE Ⅱ score ＞ 20,lung cancer and the albumin ＜ 30 g/L were the risk factors for PICS in the malignant tumor patients with lung infection after chemotherapy (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The incidence of PICS in malignant tumor patients with pulmonary infection after chemotherapy is high,and the risk factors for the poor prognosis include APACHE Ⅱ score ＞20,lung cancer and the albumin ＜30 g/L.

Research progress in the diagnosis and treatment of persistent inflammation-immunosuppression catabolism syndrome in severe acute pancreatitis / 中华消化外科杂志

Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) has a severe attack and high incidence of case fatality rate.Almost all the SAP patients would undergo some different immune status including systemic inflammatory response syndrome,compensatory anti-inflammatory response syndrome and mixed antagonistic response syndrome.With more acknowledgement of the pathophysiology of SAP,come researches have revealed that a few SAP patients may gradually come into a terribly and durably consumptive phase,and ultimately progress to persistent inflammation-immunosuppression catabolism syndrome (PICS).Now the morbidity of PICS has increased in recent years,therefore,it is helpful to recognize PICS early and improve the prognosis by discussing the pathophysiology deeply.Based on the new research progress at home and abroad,this article reviewed the diagnostic criteria,occurrence and development,and treatent of PICS in SAP,in order to offer treatment strategy for the SAP.

A new challenge to the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis: Persistent inflammation immuno-suppression catabolism syndrome / 医学研究生学报

The early mortality of sepsis patients has been largely decreased since the publication of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines.However, the poor long-term prognosis, high 3-year mortality, impaired mental and physical functions, and tremendous financial burden constitute a new challenge to the treatment of sepsis.Persistent inflammation immuno-suppression catabolism syndrome (PICS) is known to be a definite factor affecting the long-term prognosis of sepsis.This article presents a systematic review of the concept, pathogenesis and treatment strategies of PICS, hoping to provide a new approach to the diagnosis and management of sepsis.

Clinical analysis of persistent inflammation-immunosuppression-catabolism syndrome in patients with severe acute pancreatitis / 医学研究生学报

Objective Up to the present time, no reports are seen at home or abroad on the clinical characteristics of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) with persistent inflammation-immunosuppression-catabolism syndrome (PICS), and few studies have been conducted on the risk factors for PICS.This article summarizes the clinical characteristics of PICS in SAP patients and presents a multivariate regression analysis of its risk factors.Methods This is a retrospective study on the clinical data about 214 cases of SAP treated for over 14 days in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015.According to the diagnostic criteria of PICS, we divided the SAP patients into a PICS group (n=149) and a non-PICS group (n=65).We compared the systemic and pancreatitis-specific complications and mortality rates in the SICU and at 12 months after discharge.We also performed a multivariate regression analysis on the risk factors of PICS.Results The incidence rates of biliary SAP and multiple-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) were significantly higher in the PICS (44.3% and 93.3%) than in the non-PICS group (29.2% and 55.4%) (P=0.038).The results of multivariate regression analysis showed that the risk factors for PICS included obesity (OR=2.3;95% CI: 1.0-5.2), biliary causes (OR=4.2;95% CI: 1.4-13.0), and MODS (OR=4.4;95% CI: 1.3-14.4).The survival rate at 12 months after discharge was remarkably lower in the PICS than in the non-PICS group (88.5% vs 98.2%, P=0.036).Conclusion The incidence rate of PICS is high in SAP patients.Obesity, biliary causes and MODS are independent risk factors for PICS.The complication of PICS may be an important indicator of the poor prognosis of SAP.

The clinical effects of Sijunzi decoction on gut barrier protection and immune regulation in patients with persistent inflammation -immunosuppression catabolism syndrome accompanied by spleen-qi deficiency / 中国中西医结合急救杂志

ObjectiveTo observe the role of Sijunzi decoction on the gut barrier protection and immunity regulation in spleen-qi deficiency type patients with persistent inflammation-immunosuppression catabolism syndrome (PICS).Methods A prospective study was conducted, and according to random number table, 46 patients with PICS accompanied by spleen-qi deficiency admitted to Department of Critical Care Medicine of Beijing Shijitan Hospital of Capital Medical University were randomly divided into two groups: control group and Sijunzi decoction group(each 23 cases). Conventional therapy was given to both groups, and the patients in Sijunzi decoction group were additionally treated with modified Sijunzi decoction 100 mL by nasal feeding, while those in the control group were treated with an equal amount of warm boiled water by nasal feeding. The course of treatment was 2 weeks in both groups. The improvement in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) syndrome and gastrointestinal function was observed in two groups before and after treatment. At the same time, the changes of lymphocyte subsets including total T cells(CD3+ cells),helper/inducer T cells(CD3+/CD4+T cells), suppressor/cytotoxic T cells(CD3+/CD8+ T cells), CD4/CD8, total natural killer cells(NK cell,CD3-/CD16+CD56+ cells),natural killer like T cells(NK T cell,CD3+/CD16+CD56+ T cells),total B cells(CD19+ cells),regulatory T cells(Treg T cells, CD4+/CD25+ T cells),suppressor T cells(CD8+/CD28- T cells) and cytotoxic T cells(CD8+/CD28+ T cells)were analyzed.Results① There were no differences in the acute physiology and chronic health evaluationⅡ(APACHEⅡ)score,acute gastrointestinal injury(AGI)grades and peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets between Sijunzi decoction group and control group before treatment( allP>0.05).② After 2 weeks of treatment, all the patients' clinical symptoms of spleen-qi deficiencywere improved, and there was no difference in effect between the Sijunzi decoction and control group(valid:11 cases vs. 6 cases, invalid:12 cases vs.17 cases, bothP>0.05) . In both groups, the patients' AGI condition was improved, but the improvement in treatment group was more significant than that in the control group(valid: 14 cases vs. 7 cases, P<0.05) .③ In the control group,the numbers of CD3+, CD3+/CD8+,CD8+/CD28- T cells after treatment were increased significantly〔CD3+:(62.37±7.83)% vs.(54.08±11.65)%, CD3+/CD8+:(31.52±10.55)% vs. (23.94±9.22)%, CD8+/CD28-:(24.97±10.25)% vs.(16.78±10.55)%〕 and CD19+ number was decreased obviously〔(5.78±5.33)% vs.(9.73±8.02)%〕 at the same time(allP<0.05). After treatment, in the Sijunzi decoction group, the numbers of CD3+,CD3+/CD4+, CD3+/CD8+, CD8+/CD28-, CD8+/CD28+ T cells were increased significantly compared with those before treatment〔CD3+:(74.53±7.64)% vs.(52.98±10.05)%, CD3+/CD4+:(36.27±12.08)% vs.(30.00±8.60)%, CD3+/CD8+:(37.33±12.56)% vs.(22.88±9.97)%, CD8+/CD28-:(26.89±10.80)% vs.(17.01±9.48)%, CD8+/CD28+:(12.08±5.50)% vs.(8.47±4.29)%〕, and total CD19+ number was decreased remarkably at the same time〔(4.60±4.28)% vs.(9.86±8.61)%,P<0.05〕. In the Sijunzi decoction group, after 2 weeks of treatment, the number of CD3+ T cells was increased more significantly than that in the control group〔(8.29±9.28)% vs.(5.80±5.33)%,P<0.05〕.ConclusionUsing Sijunzi decoction combined with conventional therapy can improve the clinical symptoms of patients with PICS accompanied by spleen-qi deficiency and gastrointestinal dysfunction, the mechanism is possibly via enhancing immunity by regulating the numbers of B and T lymphocytes, and maybe the cell-mediated immunity plays a more prominent role.