Predictive Value of Procalcitonin for Bacterial Infection after Transarterial Chemoembolization or Radiofrequency Ablation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Table 3

Comparison of laboratory data between patients with and without bacterial infection among patients who had fever after TACE and/or RFA.

Laboratory marker	Patients with fever after TACE and/or RFA
	With bacterial infection ()	Without bacterial infection ()	value
White blood cells (mm^3), median (IQR)	8600 (6750–11,750)	8550 (6725–11,000)	0.985
Neutrophil (%)	78.9 (72.7–86.6)	73.6 (67.3–79.6)	0.147
C-reactive protein (mg/dL)	3.0 (0.5–15.6)	1.9 (0.5–5.1)	0.332
Procalcitonin (ng/mL)	0.2 (0.2–1.4)	0.1 (0.1–0.3)	0.035
T-bilirubin (mg/dL)	1.4 (1.3–2.4)	1.0 (0.8–1.5)	0.009
Alkaline phosphatase (U/L)	132.0 (118.5–178.0)	102.5 (82.5–135.8)	0.038
AST (U/L)	270.0 (148.5–469.0)	189.5 (97.8–319.3)	0.198
ALT (U/L)	183.0 (51.5–335.0)	156.5 (63.5–247.5)	0.580
Prothrombin time (INR)	1.2 (1.1–1.3)	1.1 (1.1–1.2)	0.134
Albumin (g/dL)	2.5 (3.1–4.1)	3.7 (3.3–4.0)	0.881

TACE: transarterial chemoembolization; RFA: radiofrequency ablation; IQR: interquartile range; INR: international normalized ratio; AST: aspartate transaminase; ALT: alanine transaminase.