LEVEL OF MONOCYTE CHEMOATTRACTANT PROTEIN-1 (MCP-1) AND PATTERN OF INJURIES IN POLYTRAUMA PATIENTS

Trauma and trauma-related injuries are rife worldwide and constitutes part of the most common cause of hospital admission. Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 is produced by several array of cells in acute traumatic injury and tissue repair.

This research is a prospective hospital-based study carried out at a tertiary hospital in south western Nigeria. Patients admitted through the Emergency department were categorized based on the inclusion criteria. Those eligible for inclusion were recruited and had their blood samples taken into an endotoxin free test tube at 48 +/- 2 hours after trauma. MCP-1 levels in the serum was estimated though the Human MCP-1 ELISA kit. This process was carried out using the ELISA technique based on the manufacturer's guide.

The samples of 110 patients were analyzed, patient with the highest combination of injury had injuries to the Head and Neck, Face, chest, Abdomen, Extremity fractures and skin with MCP-1 value of 463pg/ml. The test of relationship using the F-test (0.299), and P-value (1.000) does not demonstrate any correlation between patterns of injury to MCP-1 values in polytrauma patients.

The study showed no significant relationship between the patterns of injury in polytrauma patients with serum MCP-1 levels. Therefore, injury pattern cannot be used to predict MCP-1 levels.