The usefulness of an inflammation meter to detect the presence of infection/inflammation in elderly patients.
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.
Rotstein
Rivka
R
Departments of Internal Medicine "D, " Ophthalmology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel.
Zeltser
David
D
Shapira
Itzhak
I
Avitzour
Daniel
D
Fusman
Renato
R
Dvolatzki
Tzvi
T
Loewenstein
Anat
A
Aronson
Moshe
M
Bornstein
Nathan
N
Arber
Nadir
N
Berliner
Shlomo
S
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