SERUM PROCALCITONIN LEVEL IN ASSESSING THE SEVERITY AND DURATION OF HOSPITALIZATION IN PATIENTS WITH EXACERBATION OF CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE

Acute phase reactants are unable to differentiate between bacterial and non-bacterial causes of inflammation and can only indicate inflammation. Recently, measurement of procalcitonin (PCT) levels has been used to minimize this problem. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic importance of procalcitonin in the patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 50 patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease diagnosed with spirometry were included in the study. At the beginning of the referral, measurement of blood levels of PCT along with sputum culture were fulfilled in these patients. Then the course of their disease, duration of the hospitalization, and the outcome of the disease were entered in a checklist made by the researcher. The patients were divided into bacterial and non-bacterial groups based on their results of sputum culture. All the information obtained from the patients was collected and entered into SPSS software version 16.

14 patients (28%) with mean serum procalcitonin level of 0.03 ± 0.17 required mechanical ventilation, whilst 36 patients with mean serum procalcitonin level of 0.01 ± 0.09 didn’t required mechanical ventilation (P = 0.01). Mean serum procalcitonin levels in the patients died in hospital were significantly higher than the discharged patients (P = 0.002).

Serum procalcitonin levels may be helpful in determination of the severity of the disease, differentiation of the bacterial exacerbations from viral ones, rational use of antibiotics, and length of hospital stay. It can also be used to manage and guide the treatment of the patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.