The relation between serum cholinesterase level and both the disease progress and prognosis of massively burned patients: a retrospective study

[Abstract] (cid:542) Objective (cid:542) To observe the dynamic change of serum cholinesterase (ChE) activity in severely burned patients, analyze the correlation between serum cholinesterase activity and both the severity and prognosis of burn injury. Methods (cid:542) The clinical data of 203 patients with large area burn (TBSA ≥30%) were collected from the Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of PLA General Hospital from January 2014 to December 2016 and the data of 30 healthy subjects as control group were retrospectively analyzed. According to the total burn area, these patients were divided into 3 groups: 30%-49% TBSA group ( n =77), 50%-79% TBSA group ( n =70), more than 80% TBSA group ( n =56). The serum was extracted from the two groups at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 days after injury. Serum ChE activity was compared between the patients and the controls, and between the patient groups. The comparisons were also conducted between the 3 patient groups on the altitude of the decrease in serum ChE activity 21 days after injury, when the serum ChE activity reached the lowest level after injury, and the correlation between the burn area and the serum ChE activity was analyzed at each time point. In addition, according to the prognosis, the patients were divided into the survival group ( n =172) and the death group ( n =31). The serum ChE activity at each time point and the range of serum ChE activity decrease on day 21 and day 28 after injurywere compared between the two groups. Results (cid:542) 1) The serum ChE activity was lower in the patient groups than in the control group (8.18 (cid:100) 1.15kU/L) at all the time points observed except the first day after injury ( P <0.01). 2) On the 21st and 28th days after injury, the serum AhE activity was higher in 30%-49%TBSA group than in the 50%-79% TBSA group and in (cid:313) 80% TBSA group, and the activity was higher in 50%-79% TBSA group than in (cid:313) 80% TBSA group ( P <0.05). Pearson correlation analysis on the serum ChE activity and burn area showed a significant positive correlation on day 3, 5 and 7 after injury ( P <0.01) and a significant negative correlation on day 14, 21 and 28 day after the injury ( P <0.05, P <0.01), and no significant correlation at the remaining time points ( P >0.05). Up to the 21st day after injury, serum ChE decreased less significantly in 30%-49% TBSA group (1.18 (cid:100) 1.70kU/L) than in 50%-79% TBSA group (2.20 (cid:100) 2.01kU/L) and in (cid:313) 80% TBSA group (3.35 (cid:100) 1.89kU/L), and less significantly in 50%-79% TBSA group than in (cid:313) 80% TBSA group, with statistically significant differences ( P <0.05). 3) The serum ChE activity decreased to the lowest value (4.89 (cid:100) 1.48kU/L) on day 21 after burn in the survival group and to the lowest value (4.21 (cid:100) 1.37kU/L) on day 28 in the death group, with statistically significant difference ( P <0.05). On day 28 after injury, the serum ChE activity was significantly higher (4.92 (cid:100) 1.46kU/L) in the survival patients than in the patients died (4.21 (cid:100) 1.37kU/L) at the 21st day after injury. On day 21 and 28 after injury, the magnitude of decrease in serum ChE activity was less significant in the survival group (2.26 (cid:100) 1.93kU/L and 2.43 (cid:100) 1.87kU/L respectively) than in the death group (3.61 (cid:100) 2.20kU/L and 4.22 (cid:100) 1.94kU/L) ( P <0.05). Conclusions (cid:542) After burn, the activity of serum ChE decreased significantly, and there was a tendency to decrease firstly and increase aftetwards. The activity reached the lowest value on day 21 after injury. The area of burn was negatively correlated with the activity of serum ChE, and this relation was more remarkable on day 14, 21 and 28 after injury. The greater the decrease of serum ChE activity, the worse the prognosis of the patients. As such, serum ChE activity has a certain value in reflecting the severity of burn injury and predicting the prognosis of patients.