Clinical Study on Procalcitonin in the Diagnosis of Pneumonia Pathogens in Children

Objective To evaluate diagnostic value of procalcitonin(PCT) in identification of bronchial pneumonia bacterial and viral infections.Methods 50 children in Shenzhen Children′s Hospital Intensive Care Unit from October 2010 to December 2011 were enrolled into this study,27cases in the bacterial pneumonia group,23 cases in the viral pneumonia group.All cases were measured PCT,C reactive protein and took sputum culture.Results PCT of 0.5-2,2-10 and10μg/L in bacterial pneumonia group and viral pneumonia group showed that the PCT positive rate in bacterial pneumonia group was obviously higher than virus pneumonia group(70.37% VS 21.74%,χ2=48.07,P=0.000);the PCT value in bacterial pneumonia group was higher than virus pneumonia group too(Z=26.01,P=0.000),PCT between 0.5μg/L and 2.0μg/L,the expression rate of bacterial pneumonia group and virus pneumonia group was 44.4% and 8.70% respectively,There were significant differences(χ2=7.87,P= 0.005).While the CRP was in the 8-30 mg/L and 30 mg/L group,there were no obvious differences between the two groups.Conclusion PCT can help to distinguish the pneumonia with bacterial infections from viral infections,which is superior to C-reactive protein.