Serum SP-D levels as a biomarker of lung injury in children suffering of bronchopneumonia.

The efficacy of sp-d concentration as a useful biomarker of the severity of lung injury in children with bronchopneumonia with or without chronic airway disease was studied. a total of 48 patients (2 to 4 years old) diagnosed bronchopneumonia were admitted to department of pediatrics,al-dar hospital,al-madinah,saudi arabia over the year 2009. they were divided into two groups: g1 included patients without any underlying disease and g2 included asthmatic patients. they were assigned to one of three categories. stage a patients without oxygen dosage,stage b patients required oxygen dosage,and stage c patients required icu admission. we evaluated baseline characteristics,clinical features,and serum sp-d concentration in g1,g2,and g3a (healthy control cross-matched infants). the mean serum sp-d concentrations in g1 and g2 were higher than those in g3 (118.7 +/- 46.2 & 39.7 +/- 18.7 ng/ml,respectively),but also higher in g2 than in g1 (149.9 +/- 52.8 & 109.8 + 36.7 ng/ml,respectively). the mean serum sp-d concentrations were higher in stage c than in stages a or b patients,and mean serum sp-d concentrations were higher in stage b than in stage a.