Usefulness of serum interleukin-33 as a prognostic marker of severe traumatic brain injury.

BACKGROUND: Interleukin-33 is recently identified as a brain injury biomarker. We determined whether serum interlerukin-33 concentrations are associated with inflammation, severity and prognosis after traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHODS: We detected serum interlerukin-33 concentrations of 102 healthy controls and 102 severe TBI patients, as well as serum concentrations of 3 inflammatory biomarkers (interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and C-reactive protein) and 7 cell-specific proteins (myelin basic protein, glial fibrillary astrocyte protein, S100B, neuron-specific enolase, phosphorylated axonal neurofilament subunit H, Tau and ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1) in 102 severe TBI patients. The recorded poor prognosis variables included acute lung injury, acute traumatic coagulopathy, progressive hemorrhagic injury, posttraumatic cerebral infarction and six-month mortality and poor outcome (Glasgow score of 1-3). RESULTS: Median interlerukin-33 concentration of patients (692 pg/mL) was substantially raised, as compared to controls. Interlerukin-33 concentrations were significantly correlated with Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score and the preceding biomarkers concentrations. Interlerukin-33 concentration > 692 pg/mL emerged as an independent prognostic predictor and its discriminatory capability exceeded those of the above-mentioned inflammatory biomarkers concentrations and was in the range of GCS scores and the aforementioned cell-specific proteins concentrations. CONCLUSION: Ascending serum interlerukin-33 concentrations could reflect inflammation, severity and worse prognosis following TBI.

Effect of Yiqi Bufei recipe [see text] on patients with pulmonary incompetence after pneumonectomy.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of Yiqi Bufei Recipe ([see text], YBR) on surgical tolerability, pulmonary compensatory function and post-operation rehabilitation in patients with pulmonary incompetence (PI) after pneumonectomy. METHODS: YBR intervention was applied to 60 patients with PI after pneumonectomy (as test group), the pulmonary and cardiac functions changes before and after operation, occurrence of postoperative complications, mortality, and the number of hospitalization days and intensive care unit (ICU) confinement period were observed. Meantime, for the negative and positive controls, the same parameters were observed comparatively in 60 patients with normal lung function, and in 60 patients with PI undergoing a similar operation but untreated with Chinese herbs. RESULTS: Lung function in the test group showed insignificant change before and after operation (P >0.05), while significant decrease was seen in the two control groups (P<0.05). Furthermore, the incidences of post-operation complications and mortality as well as the number of hospitalization days and the ICU confinement period in the test group were significantly lower than those in the positive control group respectively (P <0.05). CONCLUSION: YBR could relieve lung injury after pneumonectomy, improve surgical tolerability, reduce the length of postoperative hospitalization days and ICU confinement period, and lower the incidence of postoperative complications and mortality in patients with PI after pneumonectomy.