Measurement of Procalcitonin Levels in Children with Bacterial or Viral Meningitis

作者：D Gendrel, Josette Raymond, Marcel Assicot, Florence Moulin, Jean‐Luc Iniguez, Pierre Lebon, Claude Bohuon · 发表于：Clinical Infectious Diseases · 年份：1997 · DOI：10.1086/513633 · 被引用次数：273 · 研究领域：Sepsis Diagnosis and Treatment、Bacterial Infections and Vaccines、Neonatal and Maternal Infections

We measured the plasma procalcitonin levels in 59 children who were admitted to the hospital because of bacterial or viral meningitis. Eighteen children with acute bacterial meningitis had elevated procalcitonin levels (mean level, 54.5 micrograms/L; range, 4.8-110 micrograms/L). The procalcitonin levels in 41 children with viral meningitis were low (mean level, 0.32 micrograms/L; range, 0-1.7 micrograms/L; P < .0001). Assay of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cells and proteins and serum C-reactive protein showed a zone of overlapping values between the two groups. Procalcitonin was not produced in CSF. Plasma procalcitonin levels decreased rapidly during antibiotic therapy. These data suggest that the measurement of plasma procalcitonin might be of value in the differential diagnosis of meningitis due to either bacteria or viruses.