serum amyloid alpha in parapneumonic effusions血清淀粉样蛋白αparapneumonic积液.pdf

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Mediators of Inflammation Volume 2011, Article ID 237638, 5 pages doi:10.1155/2011/237638 Research Article Serum Amyloid Alpha in Parapneumonic Effusions Vagelis Boultadakis,1 Vasilis Skouras,2 Demosthenes Makris,1, 3 Aggeliki Damianaki,4 Dimitrios J. Nikoulis,1 Theodoros Kiropoulos,1 Smaragda Oikonomidi,1 Irene Tsilioni,1 and Konstantinos Gourgoulianis1 1 Respiratory Department, University Hospital of Larissa, Biopolis, 41110 Larissa, Greece 2 “Sismanoglio” General Hospital of Attica, 15126 Athens, Greece 3 Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital of Thessaly, Biopolis, 41110 Larissa, Greece 4 Respiratory Department, Chania General Hospital, 73300 Chania, Greece Correspondence should be addressed to Demosthenes Makris, appollon7@ Received 5 June 2011; Accepted 16 June 2011 Academic Editor: Dennis Daniel Taub Copyright © 2011 Vagelis Boultadakis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Study objectives. To assess serum amyloid alpha (SAA) pleural fluid levels in parapneumonic effusion (PPE) and to investigate SAA diagnostic performance in PPE diagnosis and outcome. Methods. We studied prospectively 57 consecutive patients with PPE (empyema (EMP), complicated (CPE), and uncomplicated parapneumonic effusion (UPE)). SAA, CRP, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 levels were evaluated in serum and pleural fluid at baseline. Patients were followed for 6-months to detect pleural thickening/loculations. Results. Pleural SAA levels (mg/dL) median(IQR) were significantly higher in CPE compared to UPE (P 0.04)