Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21645387›Full record

ArticleCritical care (London, England)2011

Meningitis in adult patients with a negative direct cerebrospinal fluid examination: value of cytochemical markers for differential diagnosis.

Alain Viallon, Nicolas Desseigne, Olivier Marjollet, Albert Birynczyk, Mathieu Belin, Stephane Guyomarch, Jacques Borg, Bruno Pozetto, Jean Claude Bertrand, Fabrice Zeni

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Critical care (London, England), 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
45citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

45 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. The use of procalcitonin in the diagnosis of bone and joint infection: a systemic review and meta-analysis.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2013
    Pooled it
  5. Methicillin-resistantJournal of surgical case reports · 2026
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  13. The cerebrospinal fluid neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio is a sensitive biomarker for bacterial meningitis in children.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2022
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Procalcitonin measurement in West Nile virus neuroinvasive disease: A first case series.Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada · 2021
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Alain ViallonEmergency and Intensive Care Units, North Hospital, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne Cedex 2, France. alain.viallon@chu-st-etienne.fr
Nicolas Desseigne
Olivier Marjollet
Albert Birynczyk
Mathieu Belin
Stephane Guyomarch
Jacques Borg
Bruno Pozetto
Jean Claude Bertrand
Fabrice Zeni

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThe objective of this study was to determine the ability of various parameters commonly used for the diagnosis of acute meningitis to differentiate between bacterial and viral meningitis, in adult patients with a negative direct cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination.

methodsThis was a prospective study, started in 1997, including all patients admitted to the emergency unit with acute meningitis and a negative direct CSF examination. Serum and CSF samples were taken immediately on admission. The patients were divided into two groups according to the type of meningitis: bacterial (BM; group I) or viral (VM; group II). The CSF parameters investigated were cytology, protein, glucose, and lactate; the serum parameters evaluated were C-reactive protein and procalcitonin. CSF/serum glucose and lactate ratios were also assessed.

resultsOf the 254 patients with meningitis with a negative direct CSF examination, 35 had BM and 181, VM. The most highly discriminative parameters for the differential diagnosis of BM proved to be CSF lactate, with a sensitivity of 94%, a specificity of 92%, a negative predictive value of 99%, a positive predictive value of 82% at a diagnostic cut-off level of 3.8 mmol/L (area under the curve (AUC), 0.96; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.95 to 1), and serum procalcitonin, with a sensitivity of 95%, a specificity of 100%, a negative predictive value of 100%, and a positive predictive value of 97% at a diagnostic cut-off level of 0.28 ng/ml (AUC, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.99 to 1).

conclusionsSerum procalcitonin and CSF lactate concentrations appear to be the most highly discriminative parameters for the differential diagnosis of BM and VM.

Indexed as

Acute DiseaseAdolescentAdultAgedArea Under CurveBiomarkersCalcitoninCalcitonin Gene-Related PeptideCerebrospinal FluidCerebrospinal Fluid ProteinsC-Reactive ProteinDiagnosis, DifferentialFemaleGlucoseHumansLactic AcidBiomarkersCALCA protein, humanCalcitoninCalcitonin Gene-Related PeptideCerebrospinal Fluid ProteinsC-Reactive ProteinGlucoseLactic AcidProtein Precursors

Identifiers

PMID21645387
PMCPMC3219005

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.