Diagnostic value of computed tomography combined with pathogen antibody and serum procalcitonin in children with lower respiratory tract infection

This research was aimed to explore the diagnostic value that computed tomography (CT) images hold when integrated with pathogen antibodies and procalcitonin (PCT) among pediatric patients with lower respiratory tract infections. Eighty hospitalized pediatric patients with lower respiratory tract infections were categorized on the basis of clinical diagnostic criteria into the bacterial infection group (n = 46) and the nonbacterial infection group (n = 34). In the meantime, a cohort of healthy pediatric subjects (n = 20) was additionally enrolled to serve as the control group. All subjects underwent chest CT scans, nine-plex respiratory pathogen IgM antibody detection and sputum culture upon admission, and reexamination of PCT after treatment. The diagnostic measures of sensitivity, specificity and the area under the curve (AUC) were analyzed corresponding to every detection approach as well as each combined diagnostic strategy. The PCT levels within the bacterial infection group exhibited a statistically significant elevation compared with the nonbacterial infection group as well as the control group ( P < 0.05). Administration of antibacterial therapies resulted in PCT concentrations that showed a marked reduction in contrast to the values recorded prior to the therapeutic interventions ( P < 0.05). For the bacterial infection group, the PCT positive detection rate reached 91.30%, while the sputum culture yielded a positive rate of 34.78%, and the positive detection rate for IgM was measured at only 6.52%. The detection rate of IgM in the nonbacterial group was 61.76%, and the sputum culture was 0. The CT + PCT + IgM triple combined diagnostic strategy achieved the highest diagnostic efficacy (AUC = 0.96). Serum PCT acted as a highly responsive biomarker that enabled the prompt identification of bacterial lower respiratory tract infections in children at an early stage. The combination of chest CT imaging, PCT and IgM antibody detection significantly improved the accuracy of etiological diagnosis and provided an important reference for the clinical treatment.