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DewDiligence

08/07/06 6:24 PM

#378 RE: xrymd #377

Re: Sepsis vs burns

Your views are similar to mine. I had previously expected burns to be the acquired-deficiency indication selected by Leo and GTC; the harbinger that the decision might go the other way was the recent attention by various parties to revisiting the KyberSept data. Rarely have I seen so many articles in the peer-reviewed literature about reanalyzing data from a 5-year-old study.

I think the fact that sepsis is an approved indication for plasma AT in Japan was significant factor too.
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urche

08/08/06 9:45 AM

#397 RE: xrymd #377

Burns vs sepsis

Burns are easy to identify, quantify and stratify and therefore easier to treat without deviating from a designed protocol. Sepsis is much more difficult to correctly diagnose and timing of both the diagnosis and treatment would likely be more variable.

I agree, Xrymd, and would take it further. Burns are relatively simple in that, it is generally an acute condition, with defined onset, and little likelihood of predisposing medical conditions---although considerable likelihood of confounding societal variables such as poverty, alcoholism, and passive smoking. OTOH, sepsis rarely arises de novo without contributory, if not causative conditions. Patients who develop sepsis generally are already sick before the overwhelming infection. Sepsis these days usually overwhelms patients with HIV, immune suppression from chemotherapy, dialysis patients, advanced cancer, advanced age, malnutrition, etc.

As such, I worry about the difficulty in studying a drug in sepsis where there are confounding variables that are often more important medically than the infection itself. I, for one, would feel easier if Leo had stuck with the burns indication.

Urche
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DewDiligence

11/23/06 10:06 PM

#1992 RE: xrymd #377

Antithrombin Deficiency and Its Relationship to Severe Burns

[An ATryn program in burns is evidently not in the cards, although there’s some reason to believe that ATryn might be effective in that indication.]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&l...

>>
Burns. 2006 Nov 20.

Niedermayr M, Schramm W, Kamolz L, Andel D, Romer W, Hoerauf K, Zimpfer M, Andel H.

Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Medical University of Vienna, 18-20 Waehringer Guertel, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.

Antithrombin (AT) is an important endogenous anticoagulant and exhibits marked anti-inflammatory properties. To evaluate the incidence of AT deficiency in severe burn and its correlation to the variables of the abbreviated burn severity index (ABSI), length of hospital stay (LOS) and mortality we collected data on the substitution of human plasma-derived AT concentrate in 201 consecutive patients suffering from severe burn.

One hundred and eight patients (54%) developed AT deficiency during their hospitalisation and, according to our institutional practice, received substitution therapy by continuous infusion to maintain physiological plasma activity (70-120%). The mean administered dose served as a measure of AT deficiency. The percentage of patients in an AT deficient state was highest within the first 5 days after injury. It was 26% on day 1 and between 38% and 41% on days 2-5 and thereafter decreased constantly over time.

A multiple regression analysis between the dependent variable mean administered dose of AT concentrate and the independent variables age, total body surface area burned (TBSA), gender, inhalation injury (INHAL), full thickness burn (FTB), LOS and mortality was performed. Age, gender and FTB showed no significant influence on the development of AT deficiency. Increasing TBSA and INHAL clearly increase the risk of developing AT deficiency (p-values 0.0001 and 0.037).

The analysis also identified AT deficiency as an independent predictor of LOS and mortality (p-values 0.036 and 0.003). Development of AT deficiency is a frequent event after burn with significant correlation to TBSA and INHAL, increased mortality rates and longer hospital stays.
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