Characteristics of inflammatory markers in patients with pulmonary thromboembolism

Objective To investigate the characteristics of inflammatory markers in patients with pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) and its value in clinical diagnosis. Methods Blood samples from 83 patients diagnosed with PTE from the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College from January 2012 to June 2017 were collected for white blood cell (WBC), Neutrophil count (NE), and Lymphocyte count (LY), Neutrophil percentage (NE%), Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), Platet to Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR) , C-Reactive protein (CRP), Temperature (T), Fibrinogen (FIB) and other indicators of inflammation compared with 64 healthy physical indicators in the same period, and the changes of inflammation indexes in the two groups were retrospectively analyzed. Patients with pulmonary thromboembolism were divided according to age and whether they had pulmonary infection at the same time, and the correlation between NLR, PLR and traditional inflammation indicators and coagulation and fibrinolysis indicators were analyzed. Results Compared with the control group, the WBC, NE, NLR and PLR in the PTE group were significantly increased, and the LY was significantly decreased (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in T, WBC, NE, CRP, NLR and PLR between PTE combined with pulmonary infection group and PTE non-infection group (all P>0.05). There was no significant difference in T, WBC, NE, CRP, NLR and PLR between PTE combined with Older PTE group and non-aged PTE group(P> 0.05); NLR values of PTE patients were positively correlated with WBC, NE and CRP levels (r values were 0.531, 0.674 and 0.408, respectively, P values were <0.01); PLR values were positively correlated with CRP levels (r=0.472, P<0.01). Both NLR and PLR in the PTE group were positively correlated with FIB (r=0.231 and 0.405, respectively, all P<0.05). Conclusion WBC, NE, NLR and PLR are significantly elevated in PTE group. It was suggested that there may be a link between inflammatory response and the development of PTE. It was suggested that the inflammatory index like NLR and PLR could not accurately identify whether the patient was a simple PTE patient or a pulmonary infection at the same time. There is a correlation between the NLR, PLR and the CRP, FIB, which can be used to monitor inflammation and coagulation and fibrinolysis in patients with PTE.