Objective
To investigate the clinical value of peripheral serum cell-free DNA/neutrophil extracellular traps (cf-DNA/NETs) level in diagnosis and severity assessment of sepsis patients.
Methods
Forty patients with sepsis and 40 patients with non-infectious systemic inflammatory response syndrome (nf-SIRS) were enrolled in this study. The cf-DNA/NETs level in serum of all subjects were measured. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic ability of the cf-DNA/NETs, white blood cell count (WBC), procalcitonin (PCT) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). The sepsis patients were stratified into a survival group and a death group according to the prognosis. Sequential organ failure (SOFA) score were recorded in the sepsis patients, and the correlations between SOFA and cf-DNA/NETs, PCT, WBC, IL-6 were analyzed.
Results
Compared with the nf-SIRS group, cf-DNA/NETs and PCT levels were significantly higher in the sepsis group (both P<0.05). WBC and IL-6 showed no significant differences between the two groups (bothP>0.05). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of cf-DNA/NETs was 0.884 for diagnosis of sepsis, and it was higher than the AUC of PCT (0.803). The cf-DNA/NETs showed better sensitivity (81.2% and 79.2%) and specificity (81.0% and 82.4%) than PCT. cf-DNA/NETs and PCT were significantly higher in the death group than those in the survival group. Bivariate collection analysis revealed positive correlations between SOFA score and the two biomarkers of cf-DNA/NETs and PCT (r1=0.573, r2=0.518; both P<0.01).
Conclusions
cf-DNA/NETs and PCT have certain value in early diagnosis of sepsis, and cf-DNA/NETs shows better diagnostic value in distinguishing sepsis from nf-SIRS than PCT. cf-DNA/NETs can be used as a routine monitoring index to help assess disease severity in sepsis.
Objective
To evaluate the predicting effect of quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) on septic shock, and investigate the probability of improving the predicting effect.
Methods
Patients with sepsis diagnosed in Emergency Department from July 2015 to June 2016 were enrolled. They were divided into shock group and non-shock group based on whether or not they had septic shock during 72 hours after admission. The multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to find out the independent risk factors affecting the incidence of septic shock. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze those risk factors. Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS), Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis Score (MEDS), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), Acute Physiology and Chronic HealthEvaluation (APACHE)Ⅱ and qSOFA were also compared with ROC curve analysis. The possibility of improvement of qSOFA predicting effect was discussed.
Results
A total of 821 patients were enrolled, with 108 in septic shock group and 713 in non-septic shock. The result of multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure, pH value, oxygenation index, lactate, albumin, Glasgow Coma Score and procalcitonin were the independent risk factors (P<0.05). The result of ROC analysis showed that the area under curve (AUC) of pH value, lactate and procalcitonin was 0.695, 0.678 and 0.694, respectively. Lactate had the highest value of specificity (0.868), positive predictive value (0.356) and positive likelihood ratio (3.644), while the sensitivity (0.889) and negative predictive value (0.961) of procalcitonin were the highest. MEWS, MEDS, SOFA, APACHEⅡ and qSOFA were compared with ROC. SOFA had the best predicting effect with the statistical results of AUC (0.833), sensitivity (0.835), specificity (0.435), positive predictive value (0.971), negative predictive value (0.971), and positive likelihood ratio (5.048); and MEWS had the highest negative likelihood ratio (0.581). qSOFA did not show a best predicting value.
Conclusion
qSOFA is not the best choice to predict the possibility of septic shock, but its predicting value might be improved when combined with pH value, lactate and procalcitonin.
ObjectiveTo investigate the role of dynamic monitoring procalcitonin (PCT) in the comprehensive evaluation during the diagnosis and treatment of community acquired pneumonia (CAP).
MethodsFour hundred and sixty-eight patients with CAP were randomly assigned to a PCT-guided group (the research group) and a standard guideline group (the control group). The clinical symptoms,CURB-65 grade,blood leucocyte count and classification,and C-reactive protein (CRP)were compared between two groups. The PCT-guided application time of antibiotics,the hospitalization time,chest CT examination rate,the cure or the improvement rate were also estimated and commpared.
ResultsThe hospitalization time [(9.6±1.7)days vs. (10.9±1.6)days],hospitalization cost [(6 957.11±1 009.46) yuan vs. (8 011.35±1 049.77) yuan],chest CT examination rate (56.96% vs. 89.40%),the application time of antibiotics [(16.5±2.3)days vs. (20.0±1.2)days],and the rate of required antibiotics upgrade (6.96% vs. 11.06%) in the research group were all significantly lower than the control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between two groups in the ratio of the adverse reaction of antibiotics (14.78% vs. 15.20%),the rate of transfer into ICU (2.61% vs. 3.69%) or the mortality (1.74% vs. 2.30%)(P>0.05).
ConclusionOn the basis of CAP guidelines,the dynamic monitoring of PCT may shorten the time of antibiotic use and the hospitalization,reduce the cost of hospitalization and the rate of chest CT scan in patients with CAP.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the diagnostic value of procalcitonin (PCT) for tuberculous pleural effusion.
MethodsWe electronically searched CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, CBM, PubMed, The Cochrane Library and EMbase from inception to April, 2013, to collect the literature about the diagnostic value of PCT for tuberculous pleural effusion compared with gold standard (positive outcomes of mycobacterium tuberculosis culture). Two reviewers screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the quality of included studies. MetaDiSc 1.4 were used to conduct the meta-analysis.
ResultsEight studies were finally included. The results of meta-analysis showed the pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.63 (95%CI 0.58 to 0.68) and 0.76 (95%CI 0.70 to 0.81), respectively. The positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio were 2.72 (95%CI 1.48 to 5.02) and 0.49 (95%CI 0.29 to 0.82), respectively. The diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 5.77 (95%CI 1.89 to 17.58). And the SROC AUC was 0.79. Heterogeneity was mainly derived from the QUADAS score and Begg's test showed there was no presence of publication bias.
ConclusionPCT is a potential marker in the diagnosis of benign and tuberculous pleural effusion, which can be used to determine diagnosis identification of tuberculous pleural effusion.
Objective
To investigate the value of procalcitonin (PCT) at admission for severity stratificaton and prognosis prediction of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), and assess the ability of the combination of PCT and the validated pneumonia risk scores (PSI and CURB-65) for predicting 30-day mortality.
Methods
A retrospective study was performed in 150 hospitalized CAP patients admitted in the Department of Respiratory Medicine of General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University between March 2015 and March 2016. The primary end point for this study was mortality within 30 days. Sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), positive and negative predictive value (PPV, NPV) of PCT for assessing mortality was calculated and compared to validated pneumonia risk scores.
Results
In the 150 CAP patients enrolled, there were 77 males and 73 females with an average age of 58.4±16.3 years. Twelve (8%) patients died within 30 days. The non-survivors had significantly higher median PCT level (4.25 ng/mlvs. 0.24 ng/ml) and C-reactive protein (CRP) level (14.60 mg/dlvs. 5.10 mg/dl) compared with the survivors. The median PCT level was significantly higher in the patients with more severe disease assessed by two risk scoring systems. Combination of PCT with risk scores can improve prognostic value for predicting 30-day mortality of CAP.
Conclusions
The level of PCT at admission is more useful than the traditional biomarkers for the severity stratification and prognosis prediction of CAP. It can well determine patients at low risk of mortality from CAP. There is no advantage of PCT compared to PSI or CURB-65, so we recommend combination of PCT to risk sores to predict 30-day mortality of CAP.
ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical value of serum proadrenomedullin (pro-ADM) for diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia(VAP).
MethodsA prospective study was carried out in eighty-nine patients with clinically suspected diagnosis of VAP who underwent invasive mechanical ventilation between June 2014 and July 2015.The patients were divided into a VAP group (n=52) and a non-VAP group (n=37) according to clinical and microbiological culture results.The levels of serum pro-ADM were measured by sandwich ELISA on 1st, 3rd and 5th day of VAP suspicion.The diagnostic value of pro-ADM for VAP was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.
ResultsOn 1st day, 3rd day and 5th day, the pro-ADM levels [3.10(2.21, 4.61) nmol/L, 3.01(2.04, 4.75)nmol/L and 1.85(1.12, 3.54)nmol/L, respectively] in the VAP group were significantly higher than those in the non-VAP group [1.53(1.07, 2.24)nmol/L, 1.52(1.05, 2.17) nmol/L and 1.26(1.02, 2.17) nmol/L, respectively] (all P < 0.05).For diagnosis of VAP, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) for pro-ADM on 1st, 3rd and 5th were 0.896 (95%CI 0.799-0.940), 0.863(95%CI 0.791-0.935) and 0.651 (95%CI 0.538-0.765), respectively.When using 2.53 nmol/L as the best cutoff on 1st day, pro-ADM had 84.6% sensitivity and 86.5% specificity.When using 2.40 nmol/L as the best cutoff on 3rd day, pro-ADM had 82.7% sensitivity and 83.8% specificity.
ConclusionSerum level of pro-ADM in the diagnosis of VAP has good sensitivity and specificity, which may be used as a marker to diagnose VAP early.
Objective
To investigate the effects of one-lung ventilation time on the concentration of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), serum inflammatory markers and early pulmonary infection after radical resection of esophageal cancer.
Methods
Ninety patients with thoracoscope and laparoscopic radical resection of esophageal carcinoma were chosen. According to the thoracoscope operation time, the patients were divided into 3 groups including a T1 (0.5–1.5 hours) group, a T2 (1.5–2.5 hours) group and a T3 (>2.5 hours) group. Immediately after the operation, the ventilated and collapsed BALF were taken. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method was used to determine the concentration of IL-6 and tumour necrosis TNF-α. The concentrations of procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), and white blood cell (WBC) were measured on the first, third, fifth day after operation. The incidence of pulmonary infection was observed within 3 days after operation.
Result
The IL-6 values of the right collapsed lung in all groups were higher than those in the left ventilated lung. The TNF-α value of the right collapsed lung in the T2 group and T3 group was higher than that in the left ventilated lung (P<0.05). Compared with in the right collapsed lung, the TNF-α and IL-6 values gradually increased with the the duration of one-lung ventilation (P<0.05). Compared with the left ventilated lung groups, the IL-6 value increased gradually with the duration of one-lung ventilation time (P<0.05). The TNF-α value of the T3 group was higher than that of the T1 and T2 groups (P<0.05). The PCT value of the T3 group was higher than that of the T1 group and T2 group on the third, fifth day after operation (P<0.05). But there was no significant difference in CRP and WBC among the three groups at different time points. The incidence of pulmonary infection in the T3 group was significantly higher than that in the T1 group within 3 days after operation (P<0.05).
Conclusion
With the extension of one-lung ventilation time, the release of local and systemic inflammatory mediators is increased, and the probability of pulmonary infection is higher.
Objective To assess the value of procalcitonin ( PCT) in serum and percentage of infected cells ( PIC) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid ( BALF) for the diagnosis of early ventilator-associatedpneumonia ( VAP) .Methods A prospective observational study was conducted in a teaching hospital. The patients consecutively admitted to the intensive care unit from January 2011 to June 2012, who received mechanical ventilation for more than 48h and clinically suspected for VAP, were recruited in the study.Patients with infection outside the lungs and previous diagnosed infection were excluded. PCT was detected and bronchoalveolar lavage was performed in the day when VAP was diagnosed. BALF cells were stained by May-Grunwald Giemsa ( MGG) for counting 100 phagocytic cells and calculating infected cells ( ICs )percentage.Results 76 of all 421 patients were enrolled in this study, 64 of which were diagnosed, 12 were under-diagnosed. The PCT [ ( 3. 48 ±1. 46) ng/mL vs. ( 1. 53 ±0. 60) ng/mL] and PIC [ ( 3. 11 ±1. 47) % vs. ( 1. 08 ±0. 29) % ] were significant higher in the patients with VAP. The threshold of 2 ng/mL of PCT and 2% of PIC corresponded to sensitivity of 78. 12% and 78. 12% , and specificity of 75. 00% and 91. 67% , respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic ( ROC) curve was 0. 87 ( 95% CI 78. 9%-95. 9% ) and 0. 874 ( 95% CI 79. 2% -94. 9% ) , respectively. The area under ROC curve was 0. 979, and the sensitivity was 97. 36% , specificity was 97. 36% when the two cutoff values were both achieved. Conclusion PCT and PIC are useful markers to diagnose early VAP quickly and conveniently and allow early antibiotic treatment of patients with suspected VAP.
Objective To explore the association between procalcitonin (PCT) level and the development of malignant brain edema (MBE) after acute cerebral infarction. Methods The data on patients with stroke admitted to the Department of Neurology of West China Hospital, Sichuan University between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018 were retrospective collected. Patients were divided into MBE group and non-MBE group based on whether MBE had occurred. The basic information and neuroimaging data of two groups of patients were compared and analyzed. Results A total of 798 patients were included. Among them, there were 93 cases of MBE (11.65%) and 705 cases of non-MBE (88.35%). The median time of MBE occurrence (lower quartile, upper quartile) was 29 (24, 54) hours after onset. The difference in the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, large-scale middle cerebral artery infarction, dysarthria, low fever, consciousness status, chronic heart failure, TOAST typing, mechanical ventilation, gastric tube placement, PCT on the first and third day of admission between the two groups were statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the other indicators between the two groups (P>0.05). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that both day 1 PCT and large-scale middle cerebral artery infarction were associated with MBE. Conclusions Elevated PCT within 24 hours from onset is independently associated with the development of MBE after acute cerebral infarction. Patients with elevated PCT after cerebral infarction may require careful clinical management.
Objective To evaluate the value of serumprocalcitonin( PCT) guided antibiotic strategy in the treatment of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease( AECOPD) .Methods From August 2011 to June 2012, a total of 96 patients hospitalized for AECOPD were randomly assigned into a PCT-guided group( n = 48) and an empirical therapy group( n = 48) . The PCT levels of PCT-guided group were measured by immunochemiluminometric assays before and 5,7, 10 days after treatment. The PCT-guided group was treated with antibiotics according to serum PCT levels, ie. antibiotic treatment was applied when PCT level ≥ 0. 25 μg/L and was discouraged when PCT level lt; 0. 25 μg/L. The empirical therapy group received antibiotics according to physician’s decision. The antibiotics usage rate, length of antibiotic exposure, length of hospitalization, clinical efficacy, hospital mortality, rate of invasive mechanical ventilation and costs of hospitalization were recorded. Results The antibiotics usage rate, length of antibiotic exposure, length of hospitalization, and costs of hospitalization in the PCT-guided group were all lower than those of the empirical therapy group( P lt;0.05) while clinical efficacy, hospital mortality and rate of invasive mechanical ventilation were similar in two groups(Pgt;0.05) . Conclusion PCT guided antibiotic strategy can be used in the treatment of AECOPD, which may reduce the dose of antibiotic drugs to avoid bacterial resistance and lower costs of hospitalization.
