Immunomodulation of Oxidative Stress during Organ Donation Process: Preliminary Results.

The objective was to quantify oxidative stress resulting from ischemia during the donation process, using malondialdehyde (MDA) measurement, and its modulation by the administration of melatonin. We designed a triple-blind clinical trial with donors randomized to melatonin or placebo. We collected donors by donation after brain death (DBD) and controlled donation after circulatory death (DCD), the latter maintained by normothermic regional perfusion (NRP).

The utility of C-reactive protein and procalcitonin for sepsis diagnosis in critically burned patients: A preliminary study.

Objective: To assess the utility of C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) as biomarkers of infection in patients with severe burn injury.

Methods: The present study included severe burn injury patients consecutively admitted to the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital (Andalucia, Spain) intensive care unit during a 12-month period. The variables of interest were: age, sex, mechanism of injury, percentage of burned body surface area, the Abbreviated Burn Severity Index (ABSI) and the absence/presence of sepsis.

S100B protein may detect brain death development after severe traumatic brain injury.

Despite improvements in the process of organ donation and transplants, the number of organ donors is progressively declining in developed countries. Therefore, the early detection of patients at risk for brain death (BD) is a priority for transplant teams seeking more efficient identification of potential donors. In the extensive literature on S100B as a biomarker for traumatic brain injury (TBI), no evidence appears to exist on its prognostic capacity as a predictor of BD after severe TBI.