The Journal of laboratory and clinical medicine
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Concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) have been suggested as markers of infection. The liver is believed to be a key source of CRP and PCT. For this reason we assessed the predictive value of these markers in patients with hepatic cirrhosis in a 31-bed university-hospital department of intensive care. ⋯ The serum CRP concentration (admission 11.2 +/- 4.6 vs 13.0 +/- 5.8, maximum 13.9 +/- 6.4 vs 18.8 +/- 7.3 mg/dL) and PCT (admission 1.3 +/- 0.9 vs 2.0 +/- 1.4, maximum 3.3 +/- 1.8 vs 3.4 +/- 2.1 ng/mL) were slightly lower in infected patients with cirrhosis than in infected patients without cirrhosis, but the differences were not statistically significant. Although the liver is considered the main source of CRP and a source of PCT, serum levels of these acute-phase proteins are not significantly lower in patients with cirrhosis than in other patients. Moreover, the predictive power of CRP and PCT for infection was similar for patients with and without cirrhosis.