Cerebrospinal fluid levels of interleukin-6 and interleukin-12 in children with meningitis.

Purpose: Certain cytokines play important roles in the pathophysiology of meningitis. The main purpose of this study was to investigate if the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-12 (IL-12) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) could be diagnostic predictors of bacterial meningitis in children.

Methods: CSF was obtained from 95 patients suspected with meningitis.

Early diagnosis of ventriculoperitoneal shunt infections and malfunctions in children with hydrocephalus.

This retrospective study assessed the parameters of ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection and malfunction found in 129 children with hydrocephalus who had undergone a ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement at Taipei Veterans General Hospital from January 1997 to June 2001. The clinical characteristics and differences among these patients were reviewed to determine the potential predictors of shunt infection and malfunction. Fever (60%, 6/ 10) and seizure (40%, 4/10) occurred significantly more often in the infection group than in the malfunction and control groups (p < 0.