Procalcitonin levels among patients with fever secondary to severe intracerebral infection. A cross-sectional study
São Paulo med. j
; 137(4): 349-355, July-Aug. 2019. tab, graf
Article
in En
| LILACS
| ID: biblio-1043431
Responsible library:
BR1.1
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND:
Making the differential diagnosis between central fever and infectious fever is critically important among intracerebral hemorrhage patients followed up in intensive care units (ICUs). Serum procalcitonin (PCT) has been found to be a promising biomarker for the initial diagnosis of infection, even before culturing results.OBJECTIVES:
To investigate the relationship between PCT and both fever etiologies and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels among critically ill patients with suspected intracerebral hemorrhage. DESIGN ANDSETTING:
Cross-sectional study in a public university hospital in Elazig, Turkey.METHODS:
ICU patients diagnosed with intracerebral hemorrhage and normal procalcitonin levels were included in this study. From clinical assessments and cultures, they were classified as presenting either infectious or central fever. The sensitivity and specificity of PCT and CRP for predicting infection were calculated using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.RESULTS:
There were 98 ICU patients with diagnoses of intracerebral hemorrhage. The median (interquartile range) PCT levels of patients with infectious and central fever were 4 (0.9-11) and 0.1 (0.1-0.4) ng/ml, respectively, with a statistically significant intergroup difference (P < 0.001). The areas under the ROC curve for predicting infectious or central fever PCT and CRP were 0.958 (P < 0.001) and 0.816 (P < 0.001), respectively. A statistically significant positive correlation was detected between PCT and CRP levels in patients with infectious fever (rho 0.461; P = 0.003), but not in patients with central fever.CONCLUSIONS:
PCT can possibly be used as a biomarker to differentiate between infectious and central fever among ICU patients.Key words
Full text:
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Index:
LILACS
Main subject:
Intracranial Hemorrhages
/
Fever
/
Procalcitonin
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
São Paulo med. j
Journal subject:
Cirurgia Geral
/
Cincia
/
Ginecologia
/
MEDICINA
/
Medicina Interna
/
Obstetr¡cia
/
Pediatria
/
Sa£de Mental
/
Sa£de P£blica
Year:
2019
Type:
Article