title: IL-6 determination in serum of kidney graft recipients by a new bedside test: its diagnostic relevance.
abstract: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has diagnostic importance as one of the earliest indicators of inflammation, tissue damage, hypoxia, or infection. In contrast to the time-consuming immunoassays actually used in many laboratories, results of a new IL-6 bedside test, which is interpreted visually or photometrically, are available at 20 minutes. The photometric measurement using a stored standard curve allowed differentiation of five ranges: <50, 50-100, >100-200, >200-500, and >500-1000 pg/mL. The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic relevance of this new IL-6 bedside test in four well-defined, noninfectious and infectious events after kidney transplantation. In a retrospective study the IL-6 serum levels were measured in a total of 269 serum samples from 27 renal graft recipients. Analysis of all data clearly showed that the majority of elevated IL-6 levels occurred in connection with bacterial infections. Viral infections did not result in an increase of IL-6 >50 pg/mL. Thus, from a clinical point of view this new bedside test can be recommended.
authors.affiliation: Friedrichshain Hospital, Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Berlin, Germany. juergen.kaden@vivantes.de
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D014019:Tissue Donors; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D015850:Interleukin-6