Plasma procalcitonin and severity of systemic inflammatory response after cardiopulmonary bypass

Objective Cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB) can evoke systemic inflammatory response syndrome(SIRS).Procalcitonin(PCT) is widely used for the differential diagnosis of infectious or non-infectious systemic inflammatory response.This article aimed to investigate the value of PCT in predicting the degree of SIRS after CPB.Methods We included in this study 80 patients undergoing valve replacement,who were divided the into two groups according to the severity of SIRS.We determined the concentrations of PCT,IL-6 and CRP in the plasma before operation(T0),8 hours after surgery(T8 h) and 1 to 7 days after surgery(T1-T7),and analyzed the pattern and correlation of their changes.Results After surgery,the PCT level exhibited a significant elevation from T8 h to T4(P0.05),extremely significant from T8 h to T3(P0.01) in the severe SIRS group as compared with the mild SIRS group,the CRP level was significantly higher from T3 to T7(P0.05) in the former than in the latter,while the IL-6 level showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups(P0.05).Conclusion Compared with CRP and IL-6,PCT expresses earlier and more significantly in the plasma of the patients with severe SIRS,which suggests that it might be a good predicting marker.