Application Research Of Procalcitonin In Central Nervous System Infections

Objective To explore the clinic value of detecting serum and cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) procalcitonin(PCT) in patients with Central Nervous System Infections.Methods The64patients of the Test Group were selected from those patients withmeningitis or a cephalitis in the infectious disease department of our hospital from theFebruary to the December in2013,among which,there were22patients with purulentmeningitis,16with virus meningitis,26with tubercular meningitis.The control groupcontained18patients,who were hospitalized because of epilepsy or headache ofunkown origin,and without infection.Serum and CSF PCT levels were measured withimmunofluoresent assay at admission. The patients from every group would bemeasured again to watch their dynamic levels at the72nd hour and the1st week.Results (1) The patients with purulent meningitis had significantly higher serum PCTthan those with virus meningitis,tubercular meningitis and the control group(P<0.01).There was statistically significant difference.Among the last three groups Statisticaldifferences were not significant(P>0.05).(2)Acceptting effective treatment,SerumPCT level of the patients with purulent meningitis went an apparentdecline(P<0.05).But their CSF PCT showed no significant difference.(3)The serumPCT level of the survivors with purulent meningitis was well under the dead of thesame group.There was statistically significant difference(P<0.05).(4)Serum and CSFPCT levels between every two groups of the virus meningitis, the tubercularmeningitis and the control group showed no significant difference,whether in firstidentification or in follow-up evaluation.（5）There was no obvious rectilinearcorrelation between serum and CSF PCT level，but was remarkable between serumPCT level and the cell count in CSF.Conclusion Surum PCT could be proposed as one of important differential marker in purulent meningitis,viral meningitis and tubercular meningitis. Its dynamic changeshould be an instruction in the serious degree of bacterial infections, guiding clinicaldecisions about diagnosis and treatment, the disease assessment and prognosismonitoring.But it was not obvious of the clinical significance of CSF PCT in CentralNervous System Infections.