Efficacies of C-reactive protein and procalcitonin in diagnosis of acute pancreatitis patients

Objective To investigate the expression of C-reactive protein(CRP)and procalcitonin(PCT)in acute pancreatitis(AP)patients and their role in the diagnosis of AP.Methods Blood samples were collected from 58AP patients(patient group)and 30 healthy people(control group).The levels of CRP and PCT and white blood cell(WBC)count were measured.The relationship between serum amylase(AMY)and WBC count,PCT and CRP and the relationship between WBC count,PCT and CRP were evaluated by correlation test. Diagnostic sensitivity of WBC count,PCT and CRP was investigated by receiver operating characteristic cure(ROC)curve and area under curve of ROC(AUC).Results The positive rates and levels of CRP,WBC count and PCT in the patient group were significantly higher than those in the control group(P0.01 and 0.05).For the three inflammatory response parameters,PCT had the highest positive rate,followed by CRP and WBC count(all P0.01).AUC analysis showed that PCT was the most sensitive parameter for diagnosis of AP,followed by CRP.In patient group,the AMY was not correlated with CRP(r=0.13,P=0.35),WBC count(r=0.028,P= 0.83),and PCT(r=0.15,P=0.26);CRP was positively correlated with WBC count(r=0.337,P=0.01); WBC count was positively correlated with PCT(r=0.303,P=0.021);there was no correlation between CRP and PCT(r=0.236,P=0.074).Conclusion PCT and CRP are sensitive parameters for diagnosis of AP and can provide valuable basis for the diagnosis.The diagnostic performance of PCT is superior to CRP.