[Fever and solid tumor: diagnostic value of procalcitonin and C-reactive protein].
OBJECTIVE
Evaluate the clinical utility of procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) as diagnostic of paraneoplastic fever.


METHODS
A prospective analysis of serum levels of PCT and CRP has been conducted on 68 consecutive febrile patients with solid tumour and no neutropenia. The samples were collected at hospital admission.


RESULTS
Out of 68 patients, 57 had head and neck cancer. Forty-three patients had signs of infection and 19 had paraneoplastic fever. CRP was not significantly different between the two groups (infected patients: median: 134 mg/L, extremes: 20-569; paraneoplastic fever patients: median: 154 mg/L, extremes: 26-267; P = 0.75 with Mann-Whitney test). On the other hand, PCT was significantly higher in case of infection (median: 0.44 ng/mL, extremes: 0.09-57.4) than in the case of paraneoplastic fever (median: 0.26 ng/mL, extremes: 0.05-1.17; P = 0.01 with Mann-Whitney test).


CONCLUSIONS
In our study, no paraneoplastic fever patient had PCT level equal or above 2 ng/mL (negative predictive value of 100%).
Penel
N
N
Département de cancérologie cervicofaciale, centre Oscar-Lambret, 3, rue F.-Combemale, 59020 Lille, France. n-penel@o-lambert.fr
Fournier
C
C
Degardin
M
M
Kouto
H
H
N'Guyen
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000032:analysis*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000209:etiology*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000032:analysis*
D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide
Fièvre et tumeur solide: valeur diagnostique de la procalcitonine et de la protéine C réactive.