title: Serum procalcitonin is a valuable diagnostic marker in acute exacerbation of interstitial pneumonia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Acute exacerbation (AE) of interstitial pneumonia (IP) is defined as a life-threatening deterioration of IP without identifiable cause. We evaluated the diagnostic and prognostic role of serum procalcitonin (PCT) in AE-IP.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty consecutive patients admitted for AE-IP between May 2010 and April 2012 were evaluated. Controls consisted of 13 consecutively admitted patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to bacterial pneumonia (BP) and 24 with bacterial pneumonia with stable IP ('BP with IP'). Serum PCT was measured at baseline, at days 2, 4 and 8 in patients with AE-IP, and at baseline in controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum PCT levels in AE-IP were significantly lower than in BP-ARDS (mean ± standard deviation, 0.62 ± 1.30 vs 30.14 ± 22.76 ng/mL; P < 0.0001) or 'BP with IP' (mean ± standard deviation, 0.62 ± 1.30 vs 8.31 ± 14.83 ng/mL; P < 0.05). Thus, serum PCT discriminated well between AE-IP and BP-ARDS, or 'BP with IP' (area under the curve 0.99 and 0.85, respectively). However, there were no significant differences in serum PCT between 30-day survivors or non-survivors. Serum PCT tended to be reduced in both patient groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum PCT is a useful marker for discriminating between AE-IP and BP. However, serum PCT is not useful as a prognostic marker for survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan. kazuma_n1101@yahoo.co.jp
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomii
authors.forename: Kojiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Otsuka
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tachikawa
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Otsuka
authors.forename: Junpei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Takeshita
authors.forename: Kosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Monden
authors.forename: Takahisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawamura
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamai
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006023:Glycoproteins; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D006023:Glycoproteins; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide