title: Correlation between serum IL-6 levels and death: usefulness in diagnosis of "traumatic shock"?
abstract: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been considered as an important mediator of inflammation. Clinically it is a well-known marker of the severity of injury following major trauma. In this study, the levels of IL-6 in body serum were applied to a traumatic death index. Of ninety victims 55 were men and 35 women, with a mean age of 53.4+/- 19 (S.D.) years. The cases were classified as traumatic deaths (38 cases), non-traumatic deaths other than natural causes of deaths (36 cases), and deaths due to natural causes (16 cases). All samples were collected within 2 days after death. The mean values of IL-6 levels of the traumatic, non-traumatic and disease groups were 8608.97, 2205.65, and 3266.64 pg/ml, respectively. Some cases in non-traumatic and disease cases were beyond 10 000 pg/ml, however, the mean value of the traumatic group was statistically higher than that of the other two groups. Even though several cases had high levels of IL-6 in spite of instantaneous death, the results showed that IL-6 levels are helpful in the diagnosis of traumatic shock.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan. mimasaka@forensic.med.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mimasaka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashiyada
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nata
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Funayama
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D001344:Autopsy; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004332:Drowning / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D004556:Electric Injuries / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D011041:Poisoning / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D012771:Shock, Hemorrhagic / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D012774:Shock, Traumatic / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D013997:Time Factors; D014754:Violence
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6