title: Fibrinogen function after severe burn injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Evidence regarding hypercoagulability in the first week after burn trauma is growing. This hypercoagulable state may partly be caused by increased fibrinogen levels. Rotational thrombelastometry offers a test which measures functional fibrinogen (FIBTEM(®)). To test the hypothesis that in patients with severe burn injury fibrinogen function changes over time, we simultaneously measured FIBTEM(®) and fibrinogen concentration early after burn trauma.
  
  
  METHODS
  After Ethics Committee approval consecutive patients with severe burn trauma admitted to the burn intensive care unit of the General Hospital of Vienna were included in the study. Blood examinations were done immediately and 12, 24 and 48 h after admission. At each time point fibrinogen level (Clauss) and 4 commercially available ROTEM(®) tests were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  20 consecutive patients were included in the study. Fibrinogen level and FIBTEM(®) MCF were within the reference range until 24 h after burn trauma but increased significantly 48 h after trauma. There was a significant correlation between FIBTEM(®) MCF and fibrinogen level (R=0.714, p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this prospective observational clinical study show that fibrinogen function changes early after burn trauma and can be visualized by ROTEM(®) with the fibrinogen-sensitive FIBTEM(®) test.
authors: Dept. of Anesthesiology, General Intensive Care and Pain Control, Medical University Of Vienna, Austria. eva.schaden@meduniwien.ac.at
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Schaden
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Hoerburger
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Hacker
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Kraincuk
authors: David M
authors: DM
authors: Baron
authors: Sibylle
authors: S
authors: Kozek-Langenecker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001777:Blood Coagulation / Q000502:physiology; D001780:Blood Coagulation Tests; D002056:Burns / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013916:Thrombelastography
chemical_list: D005340:Fibrinogen