Clinical and diagnostic significance of the determination of glycosaminoglycans in acute pneumonia

A feature of acute pneumonia at present is a sluggish, low-symptomatic course, often taking on a protracted character [5, 7, 9]. P. M. Vakalyuk and G. F. Abkarovich (1975) report that in 63% of cases acute pneumonia occurs without pronounced percussion and auscultative changes, and in 49%-without leukocytosis. Due to the low-symptomatic course of the disease, significant difficulties arise in timely diagnosis and treatment, which creates prerequisites for the development of prolonged and chronic pneumonia. Therefore, an urgent problem is the development of new, more informative biochemical tests that determine the activity of the inflammatory process in the lungs, the severity of the course, the possibility of early recognition of a prolonged course and the criteria for recovery.