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.