Early red blood cell abnormalities as a clinical variable in sepsis diagnosis.

BACKGROUND

Sepsis is a medical emergency during which early detection is closely associated with mortality. In sepsis, red blood cell (RBC) abnormalities have been reported. However, it is not known how early RBC abnormalities are expressed compared with various clinical manifestations used in sepsis-related organ failure assessment (SOFA).

OBJECTIVE

Therefore, using a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sepsis model we investigated the clinical significance of RBC abnormalities as an early indicator in the detection of septic injury compared with clinical variables.

METHODS

Sprague-Dawley rats received LPS (20 mg/kg) intraperitoneally. Aggregation indices (AIs) and aggregation half-time (T1/2), and elongation indices (EI max) were measured. Clinical data-related SOFA and lactate were measured at 2 h, 4 h, 8 h and 12 h after LPS injection.

RESULTS

AIs increased at 4 h, and T1/2 decreased at 2 h after LPS injection. Platelet counts decreased at 4 h, and lactate increased at 2 h after LPS injection. AIs showed strong correlations with T1/2 and platelets, EI max increased at 2 h after LPS injection, while EI max had a positive correlation with lactate.

CONCLUSIONS

RBC aggregation appears to be an early indicator of clinical deterioration in sepsis and may represent a diagnostic indicator in sepsis.