title: The usefulness of an inflammation meter to detect the presence of infection/inflammation in elderly patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medical personnel who work in small geriatric institutions most frequently do not have access to realtime laboratory facilities.
  
  
  METHODS
  In order to present a new method to determine the presence of an inflammatory response and for the assessment of its intensity, 118 patients aged 77 +/- 6 years with various bacterial infections were evaluated as well as 129 elderly individuals with various stressful conditions but no acute infections who served as controls. The leukocyte and erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation tests were performed by using a simple slide test and image analysis. The availability of the CD11b/CD18 and CD62L antigen on the leukocytes' surface was measured by whole blood flow cytometry, and the quantitative C-reactive protein by using laser nephelometry and specific antihuman C-reactive protein antibodies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant difference was noted between patients and controls for all variables obtained by the slide test and image analysis. In addition, a highly significant correlation was noted between the number of leukocytes counted on the slides and white blood cell count, between the leukocyte adhesiveness/aggregation test and quantitative C-reactive protein, and between the degree of erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation and either the Westergren sedimentation or fibrinogen concentration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  By using our low-cost and real-time slide test, any medical or paramedical personnel can get relevant information regarding the presence of an acute phase response at the point of care.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Internal Medicine "D, " Ophthalmology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel.
authors.forename: Rivka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rotstein
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zeltser
authors.forename: Itzhak
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shapira
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Avitzour
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fusman
authors.forename: Tzvi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dvolatzki
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loewenstein
authors.forename: Moshe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aronson
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bornstein
authors.forename: Nadir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arber
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berliner
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies