The predictive and diagnostic ability of IL-6 for postoperative urosepsis in patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the predictive and diagnostic ability of interleukin-6 (IL-6) for postoperative urosepsis in patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). 90 patients undergoing PCNL between April 2019 and September 2019 were studied. 16 patients progressed to urosepsis (EXP1 group, n = 16) and 74 patients did not (CON group, n = 74); demographic and perioperative data were compared between these two groups. 25 patients who progressed to postoperative urosepsis without receiving the test of IL-6 between March 2018 and March 2019 were enrolled (EXP2 group, n = 25); demographic and perioperative data were compared between EXP1 group and EXP2 group. Compared with CON group, EXP1 group showed higher serum levels of IL-6 (p < 0.001) and neutrophil (p < 0.001) at postoperative hour two; higher serum levels of IL-6 (p < 0.001), procalcitonin (PCT) (p < 0.05), white blood cell (WBC) (p < 0.05), and neutrophil (p < 0.001) on postoperative day one; higher serum levels of PCT (p < 0.05) and WBC (p < 0.05) on postoperative day three. ROC curves showed IL-6 (AUC = 1.000) at postoperative hour two and PCT (AUC = 0.954) on postoperative day three. Compared with EXP2 group, EXP1 group showed shorter time to intervene (p < 0.001), a shorter postoperative hospital stay (p < 0.001), and a lower incidence rate of severe urosepsis (p < 0.05). There were different diagnostic abilities of IL-6, PCT, WBC, and neutrophil for postoperative urosepsis at different time points, and IL-6 was greatly valuable as a predictive and early diagnosing biomarker for postoperative urosepsis in patients undergoing PCNL at postoperative hour two and on postoperative day one.