BIOCHEMICAL ASSESSMENT OF LIVER FUNCTION IN COMBATANTS AFTER MUSCULOSKELETAL COMBAT TRAUMA
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728.2748.2025.103.17-21
Keywords:
combat trauma, musculoskeletal system, liver functional status, blood plasmaAbstract
Background. The full-scale war in Ukraine since 2022, accompanied by the use of high-tech warfare, has led to a significant increase in the incidence and severity of musculoskeletal combat trauma among military personnel. In this regard, studying the mechanisms of the wound process and developing treatment strategies aimed at preventing local and systemic complications becomes an urgent necessity. Patient recovery speed depends directly on the body's ability to integrate metabolic and immune responses to stress. Assessing liver functional status is crucial as it is the central organ regulating this systemic traumatic homeostasis. The aim of this study was to evaluate a set of biochemical indicators of liver functional status in the blood plasma of combatants following musculoskeletal combat trauma.
Methods. All study participants were divided into two experimental groups with comparable mean ages. The first group (n = 12) included conditionally healthy individuals (control). The second group (n = 15) consisted of patients with gunshot joint wounds. The activities of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, and the concentrations of total and direct bilirubin, total protein, and albumin were determined in the patients' blood plasma using standard biochemical methods. The results were processed using conventional methods of variational statistics.
Results. Biochemical analysis of blood plasma from patients with combat joint trauma revealed signs of pronounced secondary hepatopathy, evidenced by a statistically significant increase in the activity of cytolysis enzymes (аlanine aminotransferase increased by 2.8 times) and cholestasis indicators (gamma-glutamyl transferase increased by 1.7 times). Furthermore, a rise in total bilirubin by nearly 3 times was recorded, which was accompanied by a significant drop in protein-synthesizing function markers, including albumin (decreased by 1.8 times) and total protein (decreased by 1.6 times), indicating the suppression of liver synthetic capacity.
Сonclusions. The results obtained indicate the development of secondary hepatopathy induced by traumatic injury, manifesting as a critical reduction in the functional reserve of the liver in the post-traumatic period.
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