Value of procalcitonin in serum and cerebrospinal fluid to diagnosis of intracranial infection early after craniotomy

WU Yuan-xing; HAO Jing-jing; WANG Qiang

doi:10.13798/j.issn.1009-153X.2017.04.010

Abstract：Objective To investigate the value of serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) procalcitonin (PCT) in the early diagnosis of intracranial infection after the craniotomy.Methods The levels of the serum and CSF PCT were determined 1,3,5,7 and 10 days after the operation in 90 patients receiving the craniotomy from September,2013 to September,2015,of whom,40 suffered from intracranial infection (infection group) and 50 not (no infection group).Results The levels of CSF PCT of the infection group were increased first and then decreased,while the no infection group decreased gradually.There was no significant difference in the level of CSF PCT between the two groups 1 day after operation (P＞0.05).Three days after operation,the level of CSF PCT in the infection group was significantly higher than that in the no infection group (P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in the level of CSF PCT between the two groups 5,7 and 10 days after operation (P＞0.05).The levels of serum PCT in the two groups were gradually decreased after operation.The level of serum PCT in the infection group was significantly higher than that in the no infection group 1,5 and 7 days after operation (P＜0.05).The sensitivity and specificity of the level of CSF PCT ≥0.17 ng/nl to diagnosis of intracranial infection early after the operation were 72.2％ and 89.6％ according to the receiver operator characteristic curve,respectively.The sensitivity and specificity of the serum PCT ≥ 0.21 ng/ml to diagnosis of intracranial infection early after the operation were 83.3％ and 100％ according to the receiver operator characteristic curve,respectively.Conclusion The CSF increased in the first day after operation may be related to the inflammatory stimulation after the craniotomy.The increase in the level of CSF PCT 3 days after the operation is possible to predict the occurrence of intracranial infection.