Clin Lab
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Procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) measurements in pleural fluid and plasma have been proposed to facilitate differential diagnosis of pleural effusion (PE). The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of these measurements when differentiating between benign (BPE) and malignant pleural effusion (MPE). ⋯ CRP levels in the pleural fluid and plasma were higher in patients with BPE, particulary infectious PE. However, the measurement of CRP and PCT is not a useful parameter for discriminating between BPE and MPE and does not provide useful information in clinical practice.
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The enigma of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), reflected in recent scientific literature, is its uncertain consequences, variability of the final prognosis with apparently similar TBI, necessity for peripheral biomarkers, and more specific predictive models. ⋯ Significantly higher S100B levels are observed on exitus, with excellent TBI prognosis and evolution performance. Hospital stay in the NICU produces significant increases in S100B compared to healthy subjects, without invalidating it as a biomarker. Polytraumatism associated to TBI does not significantly alter S100B levels. S100B at 24 hours > or = 0.90 microg/L appears to predict unfavourable TBI evolution with a NPV: 94.2% and PPV: 54.9%. We propose a predictive model when we associate S100B at 24 hours with amnesia duration over 30 minutes with a NPV of 85.5% and a PPV of 83.3%.