ABSTRACT
Cerebrospinal fluid leakage is a rare but critical condition with a substantial risk of intracranial infection, therefore its diagnosis and treatment is of major importance. CSF leakage diagnostic can be a challenging problem. Nephelometric measurement of beta-trace protein in the liquorrhoea is a non-invasive and fast method that can be used for CSF leakage diagnosis. It should kept in mind, however, that the cut-off of 1.1 mg/L is not suitable for patients with bacterial meningitis and those with a reduced glomerular filtration rate. Complementary use of beta-trace protein assay and beta2-transferrin detection is therefore recommended.
Subject(s)
Intramolecular Oxidoreductases/analysis , Lipocalins/analysis , Subdural Effusion/diagnosis , Cerebrospinal Fluid Otorrhea/etiology , Cerebrospinal Fluid Rhinorrhea/etiology , Cerebrovascular Circulation , Humans , Meningitis/etiology , Nephelometry and Turbidimetry , Reproducibility of Results , Subdural Effusion/physiopathology , Transferrin/metabolismABSTRACT
We compared the capability of rapid enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect antiamoebic antibodies during hepatic amoebiasis with those of indirect hemagglutination and latex agglutination. EIA is simple to perform and rapid (20 min) and does not require any special equipment (optical reading is sufficient). EIA of 143 sera (including 43 from patients with proven hepatic amoebic abscess, 33 from patients with other hepatic disorders and/or parasitic infections, and 67 from healthy individuals) yielded a specificity, a sensitivity, and positive and negative predictive values of 100, 93, 100, and 97.1, respectively. This test could thus be considered another valuable tool for the diagnosis of hepatic amoebiasis.
