title: Point-of-care testing for interleukin-6 in cerebro spinal fluid (CSF) after subarachnoid haemorrhage.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intrathecal interleukin (IL)-6 is considered to be a proinflammatory biomarker for cerebral inflammatory response. This is of clinical importance for the prediction of vasospasm after subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). We evaluated a bedside technique for the quantitative measurement of IL-6 in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
  
  
  METHODS
  32 samples of CSF and serum were taken from 11 patients suffering from SAH on day 3, 4 and 5 after bleeding. A lateral flow immunoassay chip-test (POC-Test) was used for bedside testing and the results were compared to the standard chemiluminescence-based ELISA (Immulite) performed in a specialized laboratory.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For CSF analysis Immulite and POC-Test show linear correlation (r2=0.81). The high IL-6 values found in SAH are depicted more easily by the POC-Test, because it has a working range of up to 10.000 pg/ml instead of up to 1000 pg/ml for Immulite. Serum IL-6 values were clearly lower, suggesting CNS inflammation in SAH.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The new chip-test provides a handy tool for the neurosurgical intensive care unit, analysing CSF IL-6 concentrations within 20 minutes. This is the first time a point-of care test for IL-6 in CSF was evaluated. The test results match the values achieved by the standard Immulite technique. Therefore a tool for clinical routine interleukin-6 investigation is provided which could find use in a broad variety of neurosurgical and neurological diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Julius
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dengler
authors.forename: Joerg C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Schefold
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Graetz
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meisel
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Splettstösser
authors.forename: Hans-Dieter
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Volk
authors.forename: Hans-Georg
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Schlosser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D049449:Luminescence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6