Chest
Original ResearchPleural EffusionsDiagnostic and Prognostic Values of Pleural Fluid Procalcitonin in Parapneumonic Pleural Effusions
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. Each patient signed an informed consent form. Patients with PF were prospectively recruited from May 2005 to September 2007 at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, a 2,000-bed university teaching hospital in southern Taiwan. Specific criteria for study inclusion were as follows: (1) age > 18 years; and (2) chest echo-guided thoracocentesis was performed by a pulmonary physician on the first day when the patient
Patient Characteristics
Figure 1 shows the study profile demonstrating the number and reasons for exclusion cases. As a result, 82 patients (61 men and 21 women) completed this study. Among these patients, 45 had PPPEs, 12 had tuberculous Pes, 7 had malignant Pes, and 18 had transudate PEs secondary to heart failure, liver cirrhosis, or end-stage renal disease. All patients were divided into a PPPE group (n = 45; 55%) and a non-PPPE group (n = 37; 45%). Table 1 compares the baseline demographic and clinical
Discussion
Several studies have shown that S-PCT is a useful marker in patients with community-acquired respiratory infections. Müller and colleagues11 showed that CAP was differentiated from other respiratory illnesses at an S-PCT cutoff level of 0.25 ng/mL, which had a sensitivity of 74% and specificity of 85%. An S-PCT level of 0.1 to 0.25 ng/mL was regarded as an indication that bacterial infection would be unlikely in two randomized trials of antibiotics guidance.12, 13 We found that PF-PCT and S-PCT
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Role of Procalcitonin in the Management of Infected Patients in the Intensive Care Unit
2017, Infectious Disease Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :Note the list of inflammatory conditions that do not substantively increase PCT: Chronic walled-off infections: for example, chronic empyema36 Edematous/necrotizing pancreatitis unless secondary bacterial infection is present99,100
Management of Parapneumonic Pleural Effusion in Adults
2015, Archivos de BronconeumologiaProcalcitonin as a diagnostic marker in differentiating parapneumonic effusion from tuberculous pleurisy or malignant effusion
2013, Clinical BiochemistryCitation Excerpt :Previous studies that evaluated the pf-PCT levels in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusions yielded inconsistent findings (Table 2). Some studies demonstrated that pf-PCT was a good predictor in differentiating PPE for non-PPE [18,22,26] but others did not [27,28]. These conflicting results may be attributed to the different study design and clinical characteristics of the subjects such as severity of disease.
Treatment of Complicated Pleural Effusions in 2013
2013, Clinics in Chest MedicineCitation Excerpt :In recent years, many potential markers have been tested focusing on different parts of the inflammatory and infective cascades. These include complement products (C5b-9)69; enzymes (myeloperoxidase)70; acute phase reactants (CRP and procalcitonin)71–73; markers of oxidative stress74; and cytokines (TNF-α and IL-8).75,76 It has also been suggested that the absolute neutrophil count in fluid can be useful.77
Pleural fluid biochemical analysis: The past, present and future
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