Abstract: Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of dynamic changes of serum procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in patients with severe craniocerebral injury. Methods Sixty patients with severe craniocerebral trauma who were admitted to our hospital from January 2015 to December 2017 were selected, and they were divided into infection group (n=36) and non-infection group (n=24) according to whether the patient eventually had pulmonary infection. In the infection group, 21 cases were cured and 15 cases were persistent infectious. The differences of PCT and CRP levels between the first day of hospital admission and the day of infection, 3d, 7d were analyzed and compared. Results ① The PCT level in the infection group was significantly higher than that in the uninfected group on the first day of admission (P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in the CRP level between the two groups (P>0.05), WBC and NG were higher in both groups, but the difference was not significant (t=1.333 3, 1.872 9, all P>0.05).②There was no significant difference in PCT and CRP levels between the improvement group and the continuous group on the day of infection (t=-0.696 1, -0.593 4, all P>0.05), the levels of PCT in the improved group was significantly lower than those in the continuous group on the 3d, 7d after infection (t=-7.856 3, -14.558 5, all P<0.05), the levels of CRP in the improved group was significantly lower than those in the continuous group on the 3d, 7d after infection (t=-3.011 4、-18.113 9, all P<0.05)③The PCT and CRP levels in the improved group showed a decreasing trend. The PCT level in the continuous group increased generally and the CRP level did not change significantly.④ After treatment, the WBC and NG levels in the improved group were significantly lower than those in the continuous group (t=2.670 0, -3.441 5, all P<0.05). Conclusion The dynamic monitoring of PCT and CRP levels during the treatment of severe craniocerebral injury patients is helpful for the prediction of pulmonary infection and the progress of diagnosis and treatment of disease. The diagnostic value of PCT in early pulmonary infection is higher than that of CRP.

Key words: C-reactive protein, Procalcitonin, Pulmonary infection, Craniocerebral injury