Early protein C activation is reflective of burn injury severity and plays a critical role in inflammatory burden and patient outcomes.

Background: Navigating the complexities of a severe burn injury is a challenging endeavour where the natural course of some patients can be difficult to predict. Straddling both the coagulation and inflammatory cascades that feature strongly in the burns systemic pathophysiology, we propose the pleiotropic protein C (PC) system may produce a viable biomarker to assist traditional evaluation methods for diagnostic and prognostic purposes.

Methods: We enrolled 86 patients in a prospective observational cohort study.

A Critical Update of the Assessment and Acute Management of Patients with Severe Burns.

Burns are debilitating, life threatening, and difficult to assess and manage. Recent advances in assessment and management have occurred since a comprehensive review of the care of patients with severe burns was last published, which may influence research and clinical practice. Recent advances have occurred in the understanding of burn pathophysiology, which has led to the identification of potential biomarkers of burn severity, such as protein C.

Plasma protein C levels are directly associated with better outcomes in patients with severe burns.

Protein C circulates in human plasma to regulate inflammation and coagulation. It has shown a crucial role in wound healing in animals, and low plasma levels predict the presence of a wound in diabetic patients. However, no detailed study has measured protein C levels in patients with severe burns over the course of a hospital admission.