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Serum neuron specific enolase is increased in pediatric acute encephalitis syndrome
Dian Pratamastuti1, Prastiya Indra Gunawan2, Darto Saharso2
1Post Graduate PhD Program, College of Medicine, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia.
Purpose:
This study aimed to investigate whether serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) was expressed in acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) that causes neuronal damage in children.
Methods:
This prospective observational study was conducted in the pediatric neurology ward of Soetomo Hospital. Cases of AES with ages ranging from 1 month to 12 years were included. Cases that were categorized as simple and complex febrile seizures constituted the non-AES group. Blood was collected for the measurement of NSE within 24 hours of hemodynamic stabilization. The median NSE values of both groups were compared by using the Mann-Whitney U test. All statistical analyses were performed with SPSS version 12 for Windows.
Results:
In the study period, 30 patients were enrolled. Glasgow Coma Scale mostly decreased in the AES group by about 40% in the level ≤8. All patients in the AES group suffered from status epilepticus and 46.67% of them had body temperature >40℃. Most of the cases in the AES group had longer duration of stay in the hospital. The median serum NSE level in the AES group was 157.86 ng/mL, and this value was significantly higher than that of the non-AES group (10.96 ng/mL; P<0.05).
Conclusion:
AES cases showed higher levels of serum NSE. These results indicate that serum NSE is a good indicator of neuronal brain injury.
