Predictive value of serum C-reactive protein and cortisol in malignancy cerebral infarction

WANG Yinming; KONG Liang; PAN Yuhong; HU Lingling

Abstract：Objective To investigate the value of the serum C-reactive protein ( CRP ) and cortisol in predicting malignancy cerebral infarction (MCI).Methods The level of serum CRP and cortisol were measured in 73 cases of patients with middle cerebral artery territory infarction.The patients were divided into MCI group and non-MCI group according to clinical manifestations and brain CT findings.Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was adopted to evaluate the numerical data.Results The level of serum CRP and cortisol in patients with MCI was (17.90 ±4.30) mg/L and (1059.95 ±226.67) nmol/L.In patients with non-MCI, the levels of serum CRP and cortisol were (12.87 ±4.31) mg/L and (858.48 ±300.55) nmol/L, respectively.Compared with the controls, the levels of serum CRP and cortisol in patients with MCI were significantly increased (P<0.01).The sensitivity of CRP and cortisol for determining MCI independently was 87.1%and 71.0%and the specificity was 85.7% and 64.3%, respectively.In parallel test, the sensitivity and the specificity were 96.26%and 55.11%;in serial test, they were 61.84%and 94.89%, respectively.Conclusion The levels of serum CRP or cortisol are the sensitive markers for determining MCI in the patients with middle cerebral artery territory infarction.The combination of the serum CRP and cortisol might obviously enhance the sensitivity of parallel test or the specificity of serial test.