Serum TNF-α, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and IL-6 are more valuable biomarkers for assisted diagnosis of extremity chronic osteomyelitis

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the values of preoperative serum levels of white blood cell, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, IL-6, TNF-α and serum amyloid A for diagnosis of chronic osteomyelitis (COM) in Chinese patients. Methods: All 586 eligible patients were included for analysis. Results: Outcomes revealed that positive ratios of TNF-α, ESR and IL-6 lied in top three. Taken predicted probability and detection cost into consideration, combination of ESR, IL-6 and TNF-α might be the optimal model due to its high predicted probability for COM (91.02%) with an acceptable cost (CN¥161). Conclusion: Combination of preoperative serum TNF-α, ESR and IL-6 can help a reliable predication of COM.