Serum transthyretin levels in patients with burn injury.

We examined serum transthyretin levels after thermal injury in a longitudinal study of 61 patients with burn injury from day 2 to day 28 after trauma. All the patients had a maximal decrease in transthyretin levels between days 6 and 8. Transthyretin values remained lower during the recovery phase in patients who died than in patients who survived. In addition, persistently low transthyretin values were associated with sepsis in the survivors. Finally, transthyretin levels were only slightly dependent on the extent of the burn injury. These results emphasize the interest of transthyretin monitoring in patients with burn injuries.