The Value of Pentraxin-3 (PTX-3) as Clinical Marker in Diagnosis of Pediatric Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) | ||||
Benha Medical Journal | ||||
Article 18, Volume 42, Issue 4, April 2025, Page 539-549 PDF (744.8 K) | ||||
Document Type: Original Article | ||||
DOI: 10.21608/bmfj.2024.332766.2243 | ||||
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Authors | ||||
Reda Sanad Arafa1; Ahmad Ata Sobeih1; Hasnaa Shawky Abd Elhameed2; Abeer Shehata El Dsouky Shehata ![]() | ||||
1MD, Pediatrics department, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt | ||||
2MD, Medical Microbiology & Immunology department, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt | ||||
3M.B.B. Ch, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Egypt | ||||
Abstract | ||||
Background: Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is defined as the presence of signs and symptoms of pneumonia in a previously healthy child due to an infection which has been acquired outside hospital. This study aimed to evaluate the value of Pentraxin-3 (PTX-3) as a clinical marker in diagnosis of CAP in pediatrics and assessment of its severity. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 60 children, divided into 40 children with CAP and 20 age and sex-matched healthy controls. All patients underwent clinical and chest examination, laboratory investigations, and radiological examination. Results: The PTX3 levels showed statistically significant positive correlation with the WBCs count (r = 0.285, p = 0.027), neutrophils count (r = 0.259, p= 0.046), ESR (r = 0.486, p < 0.001), hospital stay length (r = 0.465, p = 0.003), CRP (r = 0.365, p = 0.004), and PCT (r = 0.372, p = 0.003). PTX3 level of 7.94 (ng/ml) wase able to differentiate patients with CAP from the control group with a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 95%. PTX3 had significantly higher diagnostic performance for discrimination of CAP cases compared to CRP (p =0.041) and PCT (0.03). Conclusion: PTX-3 emerges as a promising biomarker for CAP diagnosis and severity assessment, exhibiting potential advantages over conventional markers like CRP and PCT. The findings highlight the clinical utility of PTX-3 in discriminating CAP cases from controls with high sensitivity and specificity. | ||||
Keywords | ||||
PTX-3; Marker; Pediatric; Community Acquired Pneumonia | ||||
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