Influence of intensive insulin therapy on vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with severe trauma

The influence of early-stage intensive insulin therapy on the plasma levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the related parameters in patients with severe trauma and the clinical implication were investigated. Sixty-four cases of severe trauma (injury severity score ≥20) with stress hyperglycemia (blood glucose >9 mmol/L) were randomly divided into intensive insulin therapy group and conventional therapy group. ELISA method, radioimmunoassay and density gradient gradation one-step process were used to determine plasma VEGF, endothelin-1 (ET-1), and the number of circulating endothelial cells (CECs) at the day of 0, 2, 3, 5 and 7 after admission. Simultaneously, the changes of CRP concentration in plasma were monitored to evaluate inflammatory response. The results showed that plasma levels of observational indexes in patients receiving early-stage intensive insulin therapy were all significantly lower than those in conventional therapy groups 2, 3, 5 and 7 days after admission [for VEGF (ng/L), 122.2±23.8 vs. 135.9±26.5, 109.6±27.3 vs. 129.0±18.4, 88.7±18.2 vs. 102.6±27.3, 54.2±26.4 vs. 85.7±35.2, P<0.05, 0.01, 0.05, 0.05 respectively; for ET-1 (ng/L), 162.8±23.5 vs. 173.7±13.2, 128.6±17.5 vs. 148.8±22.4, 96.5±14.8 vs. 125.7±14.8, 90.7±16.9 vs. 104.9±22.5, P<0.05, 0.01, 0.01, 0.01 respectively; for CRP (mg/L), 23.2±13.8 vs. 31.9±16.5, 13.6±17.3 vs. 23.5±18.4, 8.7±10.2 vs. 15.6±13.3, 5.2±9.4 vs. 10.7±11.2, all P<0.05; for CECs (/0.9 μL), 10.9±5.6 vs. 13.9±6.2, 8.5±4.9 vs. 11.3±5.3, 6.3±6.4 vs. 9.4±5.7, 4.8±7.1 vs. 7.8±4.8, all P<0.05]. It was concluded that intensive insulin therapy could antagonize the endothelium injury after trauma and reduce inflammation response quickly, which was one of important mechanisms by which intensive insulin therapy improves the prognosis of trauma patients.