[The diagnostic and prognostic significance of the degree of neutrophilic leukocyte activation in the peripheral blood of patients with odontogenic phlegmons].

Structural and morphologic changes in peripheral blood neutrophilic leukocytes were examined with the aim to diagnose and predict the clinical course of acute pyoinflammatory maxillofacial diseases. Classification of structural and morphologic signs of neutrophilic leukocyte activation levels during odontogenic pyoinflammatory diseases were studied using optic and electron microscopy. There degrees of neutrophilic leukocyte activation were distinguished: inactive, moderately active, and hyperactive. Inactive cells occurred in normal subjects and patients with mild forms of the disease, moderately active ones in patients with mild and medium-severe condition, hyperactive ones in those with medium-severe and grave disease. Increased count of hyperactive neutrophilic leukocytes in the peripheral blood was a sign predicting a grave clinical course of the disease with complications.