Autoantibodies against oxidated low density lipoproteins (oLAb) and procalcitonin (PCT) as prognostic markers for patients suffering from sepsis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS)

J Reiger, F Tatzber, G Ziervogel, U Köller and G Grimm

2nd Medical Department and Institute of Laboratory Medicine, General Hospital, St Veiterstraβ e 47, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria

from 18th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine
Brussels, Belgium. 17–20 March 1998

Critical Care 1998, 2(Suppl 1):P006doi:10.1186/cc136

Published:

1 March 1998

Objective

To investigate the role of lipidperoxidation and infection during acute sepsis we measured antoantibodies against oxidated LDL (oLAb) and procalcitonin (PCT) comparing the neopterin as a marker of macrophages activation and CRP as marker of inflammation.

Design

A prospective, descriptive cohort study.

Patients

23 patients admitted to the ICU with verified sepsis (n=12, s=6) or SIRS (n=11, s = 6).

Measurements and results

The clinical severity of the disease was asessed using the APACHE II score over a period of 24 h after admission. Determination of serum levels of all parameters under study was performed on daily drawn serum samples. Surviving septic patients produced significantly increasing oLAbs (P < 0.001) as significantly decreasing PCT levels (P < 0.001). In contrast, in non-survivors oLAbs were decreasing (P < 0.05) and PCT levels were increasing (P < 0.05).

The identical effect was found for the SIRS group with the exception, that the significance of PCT in survivors was slightly lower (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

Despite both patient groups were rather small, we consider that the measurement of oLAb as well as PCT to be a useful prognostic marker concerning the outcome of sepsis as well as of SIRS patients.