• S Krüger, M W Pletz, and G Rohde.
• Medizinische Klinik I, Universitätsklinikum RWTH Aachen. stkrueger@ukaachen.de
• Pneumologie. 2011 Feb 1; 65 (2): 110-3.

BackgroundBiomarkers have been intensively studied in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in recent years. In the context of the CAPNETZ study we had the unique opportunity to evaluate old and new biomarkers in a multicentre study with a high number of patients.ResultsIn several substudies we found the following results: procalcitonin, CRP and leukocytes show highest values in patients with typical bacterial etiology of CAP, but do not allow individual prediction of etiology. Patients without antibiotic pre-treatment show higher values of biomarkers compared to patients with antibiotic pre-treatment. New cardiovascular biomarkers are good predictors for short- and long-term mortality in CAP, superior to the inflammatory markers procalcitonin, CRP and leukocytes and at least comparable to the clinical CRB-65 score. Pro-Adrenomedullin is among the new biomarkers the one with the best prognostic value.ConclusionsBiomarkers correlate with the severity of CAP but do not allow individual prediction of etiology. New cardiovascular biomarkers are suitable for the evaluation of short- and long-term prognosis in CAP. The combination of several biomarkers reflecting different pathophysiological pathways has the potential to improve management of CAP in the future.© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

45 keywords...

hide…