Prognostic value of procalcitonin in patients with acute paraquat intoxication / 中华急诊医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the prognostic value of procalcitonin (PCT) level in the outcome of patients with paraquat poisoning (PQ).Methods The clinical data of 128 patients with acute PQ admitted to emergency department were collected from March 2013 through March 2014.The patients were divided into two groupsthe death group and the survival group (survival of 28 days).Poisoning doses,urine concentration of PQ,time elapsed from poisoning to admission,and time elapsed from poisoning to gastrolavage were documented.And on the 1 st day,the 3rd day and the 7th day after poisoning,serum PCT were detected.The level of PCT was used to investigate the prognostic values in patients with acute PQ in the death group and survival group.Results Of 128 cases,72 (56.3％) survived and 56 died in 28 days.Among them,the level of PCT increased to some extent in the first day in 90 cases,and 48 patients died.According to trend analysis,the levels of PCT in death group on the 1st day,the 3rd day and the 7th day after PQ were significantly higher than those in survival group [ld(0.96 ±0.13) vs.(0.08 ±0.01),3d(1.12 ±0.14) vs.(0.28 ±0.05),7d(1.22 ±0.14) vs.(0.20 ±0.03),P ＜0.01].There was a trend of escalating PCT levels in death group,whereas the PCT level reached the peak on the 3st day and decreased gradually in the following days in survival group.The early PCT level was obviously related to poisoning doses,urine concentration,CRP,WBC,ALT,CR (the coefficient of association were 0.794,0.723,0.724,0.332,0.700,0.414,respectively,P＜0.01).Conclusions The serum level of PCT increased in patients with acute PQ was significantly positively correlated with the oral dose and urine concentration of paraquat,and it can be used as an indicator for PQ severity.There is important clinical significance in detecting the change of serum level of PCT for estimating the condition of patients and evaluating the prognosis.