Gut Liver.  2016 Jul;10(4):574-580. 10.5009/gnl15209.

Usefulness of Measuring Serum Procalcitonin Levels in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

• Chung SH
• Lee HW
• Kim SW
• Park SJ
• Hong SP
• Kim TI
• Kim WH
• Cheon JH

• KMID: 2412046
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5009/gnl15209

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
The relationships between serum procalcitonin, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and intestinal Behçet's disease (BD) have not been completely determined. We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of measuring serum procalcitonin levels to assess disease activity and infection stage in patients with IBD and intestinal BD.
METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from 129 patients with IBD and intestinal BD for whom serum procalcitonin and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were measured between January 2006 and February 2013.
RESULTS
The median serum procalcitonin levels in the IBD and intestinal BD with septic shock or sepsis (n=8), with localized infection (n=76), and without infection (n=45) were 3.46 ng/mL (range, 0.17 to 63.66 ng/mL), 0.22 ng/mL (range, 0.05 to 140.18 ng/mL), and 0.07 ng/mL (range, 0.00 to 31.50 ng/mL), respectively (p=0.001). The serum CRP levels in the IBD and intestinal BD patients did not differ according to the infection stage. Variations in serum procalcitonin levels were not observed in the IBD and intestinal BD patients with different disease activities.
CONCLUSIONS
Serum procalcitonin levels may not be affected by IBD and intestinal BD activity itself, although they may be affected by concomitant infection. Serum procalcitonin measurements could be more useful than CRP in determining the infection stage that reflects the severity of infection in IBD and intestinal BD patients.

Keyword

Procalcitonin; Inflammatory bowel disease; Intestinal Behçet's disease; Infection; Disease activity

MeSH Terms

Adult
Behcet Syndrome/*blood/microbiology
Biomarkers/blood
C-Reactive Protein/analysis
Calcitonin/*blood
Female
Humans
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/*blood/microbiology
Male
Middle Aged
Predictive Value of Tests
Retrospective Studies
Sepsis/blood/*diagnosis/microbiology
Severity of Illness Index
Young Adult
Biomarkers
Calcitonin
C-Reactive Protein