Procalcitonin is a marker of severity of renal lesions in pyelonephritis.
OBJECTIVE
In an attempt to differentiate acute pyelonephritis from lower urinary tract infection (UTI), we measured serum procalcitonin levels, a recently described marker of infection. We compared it with other commonly used inflammatory markers and evaluated its ability to predict renal involvement as assessed by dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) scintigraphy.


METHODS
Serum C-reactive protein, leukocyte counts, and procalcitonin levels were measured in 80 children, 1 month to 16 years of age, admitted for suspected pyelonephritis. Renal involvement was assessed by 99mTe-DMSA scintigraphy in the first 5 days after admission. The examination was repeated at least 3 months later if the first result was abnormal.


RESULTS
In lower UTI, the mean procalcitonin (PCT) was 0.38 micrograms/L +/- 0.19 compared with 5.37 micrograms/L +/- 1.9 in pyelonephritis. In these two groups, respectively, leukocyte counts were 10939/mm3 +/- 834 and 17429/mm3 +/- 994, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were 30.3 mg/L +/- 7.6 and 120.8 mg/L +/- 8.9. When inflammatory markers were correlated to the severity of the renal lesion as ranked by DMSA scintigraphy, we found a highly significant correlation with plasma levels of PCT, but borderline significance with CRP and none with leukocyte counts. Patients without vesicoureteral reflux had a mean PCT of 5.16 micrograms/L +/- 2.33, which was not significantly different from that in patients with reflux who had a mean PCT of 5.76 micrograms/L +/- 3.49. For the prediction of renal lesions at admission, CRP had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 26.1%. The sensitivity and specificity of PCT were 70.3% and 82.6%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that serum PCT levels were increased significantly in children with febrile UTI when renal parenchymal involvement (assessed by DMSA scintigraphy) was present and allowed for prediction of patients at risk of severe renal lesions.
Benador
N
N
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland.
Siegrist
C A
CA
Gendrel
D
D
Greder
C
C
Benador
D
D
Assicot
M
M
Bohuon
C
C
Girardin
E
E
D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D011704:Pyelonephritis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019783:Technetium Tc 99m Dimercaptosuccinic Acid; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019783:Technetium Tc 99m Dimercaptosuccinic Acid; D002116:Calcitonin; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide