Plasma chromogranin A after severe burn trauma.

BACKGROUND: Chromogranin A (CgA) in plasma (P-CgA), a neuroendocrine marker of sympathetic stress, has been shown to predict mortality in medical intensive care. We hypothesized that the magnitude of CgA release would reflect stress load, and thereby injury severity in burn intensive care patients. METHODS: Fifty-one consecutive patients with a burn area exceeding 10% were included. P-CgA was measured twice daily for seven days after injury. The point value at 24h, the mean and maximum values and the AUC at days 1-7, were tested as possible predictors. Injury severity in the form of organ dysfunction was measured as SOFA score at day 7. RESULTS: P-CgA could be classified into two types with respect to variability over time. Patients with high variability had more deep injuries and were older than those with low variability. All measures of CgA correlated with SOFA score at day 7, but not with total burn size. Univariate regressions showed that age, burn size and three of four measures of P-CgA predicted organ dysfunction. Multiple regressions showed that age, burn size, and either P-CgA at 24h, the mean value up to day 7, or the maximum value up to day 7, were independent predictors for organ dysfunction. Significant organ dysfunction was best predicted by age, burn area and the CgA point value at 24h with an AUC value of 0.91 in a ROC-analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The extent of neuroendocrine activation assessed as P-CgA after a major burn injury is independently related to organ dysfunction.

Psychiatric morbidity predicts perceived burn-specific health 1 year after a burn.

OBJECTIVE: Individual factors such as gender, age, coping and personality traits and injury-related factors such as injury severity have been implicated as risk factors for poor perceived health after burns. As psychiatric morbidity is common in individuals who sustain burns, the aim of this study was to examine the effect of preinjury psychiatric problems on perceived health after injury. METHOD: A total of 85 consecutive patients treated at a national burn center were prospectively assessed: the patients were interviewed during acute care with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. One year after injury, perceived health was assessed with the Burn-Specific Health Scale-Brief (BSHS-B). Multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate the predictive effect of preinjury psychiatric history on perceived postinjury health. RESULTS: Psychiatric morbidity, especially mood disorders, affected outcome for six of the nine BSHS-B subscales, with the covariates mainly being the length of hospital stay and total burn size. CONCLUSION: The results show that a history of preinjury psychiatric disorders, especially during the year before the burn, affects perceived outcome regarding both physical and psychological aspects of health 1 year after injury and that it is a risk factor for worse perceived outcome.

Validation of a Swedish version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) in patients with burns.

The Impact of Event Scale (IES) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) are often used as self-report instruments for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, there are few validations of the IES and the IES-R against structured clinical interviews. In this study the two scales, together with the three subscales of the IES-R, were assessed for their agreement with a diagnosis of PTSD in patients with burns 1 year after injury. Sixty patients with burns were evaluated 1 year after injury using the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV Axis I (SCID-I) psychiatric disorders and a Swedish version of the IES-R. The total score of the IES-R had the best discriminant ability (0.89) with a sensitivity of 1.0 and a specificity of 0.78. In conclusion, the total IES-R had good properties as a screening tool for PTSD and subsyndromal PTSD 1 year after burn injury.

Severe group A streptococcal infections in Uppsala County, Sweden: clinical and molecular characterization of a case cluster from 2006 to 2007.

This study describes a recent cluster of 30 patients (median age 52 years) with serious group A streptococcal (GAS) infections in Uppsala County, Sweden, from December 2006 to May 2007. Patients hospitalized with a severe GAS infection, i.e. cases with either invasive GAS (iGAS) disease or patients with a positive non-sterile site culture/rapid antigen test for GAS and clinically considered as having a critical disease, were included in the study. Common clinical presentations were skin and soft tissue infections (53%) and pneumonia (17%). Eight patients (27%) were diagnosed with streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. In 40% of the cases no relevant underlying disease was reported. Among the 16 patients with soft tissue infections, the upper chest, neck or upper arm area was frequently affected and the infection was associated with severe pain. Among the 20 collected isolates, the T1/emm1 type dominated (80%). The majority (86%) of 7 analysed acute sera lacked neutralizing activity against superantigens produced by the patients' own infecting isolate. The study underscores the association between T1/emm1 and outbreaks of serious GAS infections. This highlights the importance of surveillance for prompt identification of more aggressive isolates in the community, thereby increasing awareness among healthcare professionals of these life-threatening infections.

The presence of nightmares as a screening tool for symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in burn survivors.

Recurrent nightmares can be a symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study evaluated the method of asking burn survivors about nightmares as a screening tool for the presence of PTSD symptomatology. The presence of nightmares in 85 individuals treated at the Burn Center in Uppsala, Sweden, between 1996 and 2000 (23 women, 62 men, average age 47 years, average burn size 17% TBSA, average time after burn 3.6 years) was evaluated by one question from the Burn Specific Health Scale (BSHS) and by using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition criteria for nightmares. PTSD symptomatology was assessed with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. Sensitivity, Specificity, Discriminant Ability, and Likelihood Ratios for a positive and a negative result were calculated to evaluate the screening questions. As many as 46% of the burn survivors reported nightmares of some frequency in the BSHS and as many as 28% when using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition criteria. Both approaches were useful tools for detecting or ruling out PTSD symptoms. The best Discriminant Ability was achieved with a screening test using the BSHS item "I have nightmares." Screening questions for presence of nightmares after burns can be useful in detecting PTSD symptomatology.

Intravelar veloplasty reinforced with palatopharyngeal muscle: a review of a 10-year consecutive series.

We describe a technique by which the intravelar veloplasty was reinforced by including the superior part of posterior pillars and their palatopharyngeal muscle sheet in patients with cleft lip and palate. Our aim was to increase the functional length and strength of the velum and to reduce nasal emission and the need for pharyngeal flaps. Since 1990 more than 200 patients have been operated on in this way at Uppsala University Hospital. This is a retrospective follow-up of 162 consecutive patients operated on by two senior surgeons between 1990 and 2000. We describe the technique, timing, and operative observations as well as the outcome and the need for revision of the palatoplasty in some cases because of complications. To facilitate speech, 21 patients born between 1990 and 1997 (16%) were provided with a pharyngeal flap.

Pruritus, personality traits and coping in long-term follow-up of burn-injured patients.

Pruritus is a major problem after burn injury; however, prevalence and predictors of prolonged pruritus are not known. The aims were to assess frequency of pruritus and the role of personality traits and coping in prolonged pruritus. The participants were burn patients injured 1-18 years earlier (n=248). Pruritus was assessed with an item from the Abbreviated Burn Specific Health Scale, personality was assessed with the Swedish universities Scales of Personality, and coping with the Coping with Burns Questionnaire. In all, 60% of the participants had pruritus at follow-up, however as the time after injury increased, the number of patients with persistent itch decreased. In logistic regression, 39% of the likelihood of having persistent pruritus was explained by greater extent of burn, less time after injury, and psychological features (being less assertive, and using more instrumental but less emotional support). In summary, chronic burn-related pruritus is rather common and psychological factors such as anxiety-related traits and coping are significantly associated with its presence.

Human muscle protein synthesis is modulated by extracellular, not intramuscular amino acid availability: a dose-response study.

To test the hypothesis that muscle protein synthesis (MPS) is regulated by the concentration of extracellular amino acids, we investigated the dose-response relationship between the rate of human MPS and the concentrations of blood and intramuscular amino acids. We increased blood mixed amino acid concentrations by up to 240 % above basal levels by infusion of mixed amino acids (Aminosyn 15, 44-261 mg kg-1 h-1) in 21 healthy subjects, (11 men 10 women, aged 29 +/- 2 years) and measured the rate of incorporation of D5-phenylalanine or D3-leucine into muscle protein and blood and intramuscular amino acid concentrations. The relationship between the fold increase in MPS and blood essential amino acid concentration ([EAA], mM) was hyperbolic and fitted the equation MPS = (2.68 x [EAA])/(1.51 + [EAA]) (P < 0.01). The pattern of stimulation of myofibrillar, sarcoplasmic and mitochondrial protein was similar. There was no clear relationship between the rate of MPS and the concentration of intramuscular EAAs; indeed, when MPS was increasing most rapidly, the concentration of intramuscular EAAs was below basal levels. We conclude that the rates of synthesis of all classes of muscle proteins are acutely regulated by the blood [EAA] over their normal diurnal range, but become saturated at high concentrations. We propose that the stimulation of protein synthesis depends on the sensing of the concentration of extracellular, rather than intramuscular EAAs.