Multiple organ failure: By the time you predict it, it's already there

Objective: Validate an at-risk population to study multiple organ failure a nd to determine the importance of organ dysfunction 24 hours after injury i n determining the ultimate severity of multiple organ failure. Methods: We evaluated 105 patients admitted to five academic trauma centers during a 1-year period who survived for more than 24 hours with Injury Sev erity Scores greater than or equal to 25 and who received 6 or more units o f blood, Organ dysfunction was scored daily with a modified multiple organ failure scoring system made up of individual adult respiratory distress syn drome score, renal dysfunction, hepatic dysfunction, and cardiac dysfunctio n scores, Multiple organ failure (MOF) severity was quantitated using the m aximum daily multiple organ failure score and the cumulative sum of daily m ultiple organ failure scores for the first 7 days (MOF 7) and 10 days (MOF 10), Independent variables included markers of tissue injury, shock, host f actors, physiologic response, therapeutic factors, and organ dysfunction wi thin the first 24 hours after admission. Data were subjected to a condition al stepwise multiple regression analysis, first excluding and then includin g 24-hour MOF as an independent variable. Results: Of the 105 high-risk patients, 69 (66%) developed a maximum daily multiple organ failure score greater than or equal to 1; 50 (72%) did so on day 1 one and 60 (87%) did so by day 2, In multiple regression models, the multiple correlation coefficient increased from 0.537 to 0.720 when maximu m MOF was the dependent variable, from 0.449 to 0.719 when maximum daily MO F was the dependent variable, from 0.519 to 0.812 when MOF 7 was the depend ent variable, and from 0.514 to 0.759 when MOF 10 was the dependent variabl e. Conclusion: We have confirmed that the population of patients with Injury S everity Scores greater than or equal to 25 who received 6 or more units of blood represent a high-risk group for the development of multiple organ fai lure. Our data also indicate that multiple organ failure after trauma is es tablished within 24 hours of injury in the majority of patients who develop it. It appears that multiple organ failure is already present at the time when most published models are trying to predict whether or not it will occ ur.