Clinical Application

l  Early diagnosis of acute infection

IL-6 is central to the inflammatory cascade response and is elevated earlier and with greater sensitivity than CRP and PCT in the early stages of infection.

l  Severity of infection assessment

The elevated level of IL-6 corresponds to the severity of the infection, and it can be used to evaluate the severity of the infection.

l  Diagnosis of sepsis

The specificity of IL-6 is slightly lower than that of PCT, so the combined testing of multiple infection markers can complement each other and have higher diagnostic value.

l  Warning of sepsis

IL-6 is a marker for early warning of sepsis and its levels correlate significantly with APACHE II and SOFA scores.

l  Guidance on the use of antibiotics

The short half-life of IL-6 is very useful for insufficient PCT, which can provide a quicker indication of the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment in the early stages of infection.