Prognostic serum biomarker for survival outcome in burn patients

Background: To predict the burn survival outcome, diverse studies were carried out. Some trials reported prognostic scoring systems. However, other studies evaluated the role of different biochemical markers for the same purpose. Inflammation and tissue remodeling may be influenced by serum netrin-1. Our goal was to evaluate the prognostic value of serum netrin-1 level in the survival of burn patients. Methods: Fifty-two burn patients participated in this prospective trial. Forty-two survived (group 1) and ten patients died (group 2). All patients’ data were gathered including physical examination, laboratory (routine investigations and serum netrin-1 level), and survival outcome. All patients had their serum netrin-1 levels checked once upon admission. Results: The median level of serum netrin-1 in the non-survivor group was considerably greater than in the survivor group. Serum netrin-1 can be adopted to distinguish between the survivor group and non-survivor one at a cut-off level of > 94 (pg/mL), with 100% sensitivity and 54.76% specificity. Moreover, a significant positive strong correlation was detected between serum netrin-1 level and total burn surface area and prothrombin time. Conclusions: Serum netrin-1 level could be used as a prognostic serum biomarker for survival outcomes in burn patients. Level of evidence: Level IV, Risk/Prognostic study