Acid Sphingomyelinase Serum Activity Predicts Mortality in Intensive Care Unit Patients after Systemic Inflammation: A Prospective Cohort Study

Acid sphingomyelinase is involved in lipid signalling pathways and regulation of apoptosis by the generation of ceramide and plays an important role during the host response to infectious stimuli. It thus has the potential to be used as a novel diagnostic marker in the management of critically ill patients. The objective of our study was to evaluate acid sphingomyelinase serum activity (ASM) as a diagnostic and prognostic marker in a mixed intensive care unit population before, during, and after systemic inflammation. onset of SIRS. Patients undergoing elective surgery served as control (N = 8). Receiver-operating characteristics curves were computed..In summary, ASM was generally higher in patients admitted to the intensive care unit compared to patients undergoing uncomplicated surgery. ASM did not indicate onset of systemic inflammation. In contrast to PCT however, it remained high in non-surviving ICU patients after systemic inflammation