PURPOSE Cancer-related inflammation affects many aspects of malignancy. We confirm the effects of early postoperative systemic inflammation on cancer prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Six hundred consecutive patients underwent surgery for colorectal cancer from 2006 to 2009. Measurements of white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, and platelet counts were performed preoperativel...

OBJECTIVE White blood cell (WBC) count has been associated with cardiometabolic risk, but the data for African Americans are conflicting. We determined whether WBC count predicts subclinical inflammation and cardiometabolic risk in African Americans, despite their known lower WBC count, compared to Caucasians. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study cohort consisted of 334 normoglycemic subject...

OBJECTIVES Blood obtained via fingerprick is commonly used in point-of-care assays, but few studies have assessed variability in parameters obtained from successive drops of fingerprick blood, which may cause problems for clinical decision making and for assessing accuracy of point-of-care tests. METHODS We used a hematology analyzer to analyze the hemoglobin concentration, total WBC count, t...

The use of plants and herbs as food supplements and medicinal additives is fast gaining grounds and recognition in the world especially in Africa. Sweet potato leaves (Ipomoea batatas) decoction is a folk remedy for asthma, bugbites, burns, catarrh, diarrhea, fever, nausea, stomach distress and tumours. Also this plant has haematinic effects and has been used in the treatment of anaemia and oth...

OBJECTIVE Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations and white blood cell (WBC) count are commonly used to identify postoperative wound infections. We investigated whether changes in serum CRP levels and WBC counts actually differed between patients undergoing revision spinal fusion surgery and those undergoing a primary fusion. METHODS Patients who underwent posterolateral fusion (PLF) su...

BACKGROUND This investigation evaluates the feasibility of using C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as an indicator of bacterial infection of adult patients in the Emergency Department (ED), by comparing them with clinical signs and routine laboratory tests. METHODS One hundred and fifty adult atraumatic patients admitted through the ED of Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital were consecutively e...

INTRODUCTION Hyperleukocytic leukaemias are associated with early mortality due to respiratory or neurological complications. They result from endothelial damage secondary to leukostasis. Leukapheresis, which aims to lower the white blood cell (WBC) count, has been used in certain patients to reduce the threat from leukostasis. However, there are very few published clinical investigations on th...

BACKGROUND The association of inflammatory markers with mortality in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains controversial, so in the present study the relationships of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), total white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil (N) and lymphocyte (L) counts and the N/L ratio with occurrenc...

BACKGROUND Valganciclovir (VGC) has recently been proved efficacious for the prophylaxis and treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in transplant recipients. Leucopenia is a troublesome complication of VGC but the possible risk factors are unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS Once a cardiac recipient's quantitative real-time CMV-polymerase chain reaction result showed positive, VGC was administ...