Identification of Biomarkers for Early Diagnosis of Crush Syndrome

Introduction. In the aftermath of natural disasters, hospitals often face a surge of patients with emergency injuries, posing significant challenges to emergency medical response systems. Effective biomarkers are essential for patient follow-up, treatment, and prognosis prediction. Studies to date have attempted to identify indicators of crush syndrome. With this study, we aimed to add to the growing body of literature on this subject. Methods. This single-center retrospective study analyzed 185 patients admitted with earthquake-related crush injuries between February and March 2023. They were compared with 1,065 patients who were also trapped during the earthquake but did not develop crush syndrome. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were utilized for the analysis. Results. Patients with crush syndrome exhibited significantly higher levels of blood glucose, D-dimer, white blood cell count, hemoglobin, platelet count, absolute neutrophil count, absolute monocyte count, C-reactive protein, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio, and systemic inflammatory index compared to those without crush syndrome (p < 0.001). Additionally, they had a higher prevalence of upper extremity fractures, lower extremity fractures, pelvic fractures, abdominal trauma, chest trauma, lower extremity trauma, intracranial hemorrhage, pneumothorax, hemothorax, and intraabdominal bleeding (p < 0.001). Conclusions. Systemic inflammatory indices and biochemical values can be valuable prognostic tools in managing patients after a disaster. Utilizing these indices may enhance the efficient allocation of hospital resources and enable rapid intervention for high-risk patients.