Comparison of the postoperative fibrinogen, alpha-1-antitrypsin and alpha-2- macroglobulin concentrations in the blood of wounded soldiers of Croatian Army and peacetime injured civilians.
In 10 wounded Croatian Army soldiers and in 10 civilians with accidental musculosceletal traumatisation, blood concentrations of the 3 acute phase proteins: fibrinogen, alpha-1-antitrypsin and alpha-2-macroglobulin on the 1st, 5th and 10th postoperative day were assessed. On the 5th day after injury, increased concentrations of all 3 acute phase proteins (APP) were found in all patients. The rise of the fibrinogen concentrations in the wounded soldiers was the steepest. On the 10th day after wounding, fibrinogen concentrations in the gorup of wounded soldiers were significantly lower than those in the group of injured civilians. On the 10th day after wounding there were no differences between the 2 groups in the concentrations of alpha-1-antitrypsin and of alpha-2-macroglobulin. The lower fibrinogen concentrations in the wounded soldiers could be explained by the modulation of the general reactivity of the organism to injury, proposed by Woloski, which is induced by stress and microtrauma on battlefield before the wounding.