Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate the changes of serum prealbumin (PA) expression level in patients with oral and maxillofacial space infections and its significance. METHODS: Patients hospitalized at the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University from January 2020 to September 2021 were selected and divided into infected and non-infected group. One hundred and twenty-one patients with moderate to severe oral and maxillofacial gap infections were in the infected group, and 128 patients without infection were in the non-infected group. In the infected group, PA, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and white blood cell count (WBC) levels and related clinical parameters were measured at 1, 3 and 7 d of admission. In the non-infected group, PA, hs-CRP and WBC levels were measured at 1 d of admission. SPSS 23.0 software package was used to statistically analyze the relationship between PA levels and various laboratory and clinical parameters. RESULTS: PA levels in the infected group were significantly lower than those in the non-infected group at 1 d of admission. PA levels in the infected group showed an overall increasing trend at different time points, and PA was negatively correlated with pain intensity and positively correlated with mouth opening(P<0.05). The diagnostic sensitivity was 90.91% and the specificity was 92.97% for PA≤19.85 mg/dL, which can be used as the best diagnostic threshold. The diagnostic efficacy can be improved when combined with hs-CRP and WBC. Logistic regression analysis showed that low PA level was an independent risk factor for patients requiring intensive care after surgery (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: PA is an effective tool for the early diagnosis and evaluation of the efficacy of oral and maxillofacial interstitial infections, and can be used as a reference indicator to assess prognosis.

Key words: Serum prealbumin, Infection, Oral and maxillofacial region