CALCA and brain infarction: However, compared with the survival group, the patients in the death group had a larger cerebral infarct area, a higher body temperature (37.18 ± 0.82 °C vs. 36.81 ± 0.50 °C), higher neutrophil counts [(11.15 ± 4.21) × 109/L vs. (9.41 ± 3.16) × 109/L], higher PCT levels [0.259 (interquartile range of 0.084–5.000) ng/mL vs. 0.069 (interquartile range of 0.042–0.154) ng/mL], and higher NSE levels [32.00 (interquartile range of 20.51–62.72) ng/mL vs. 22.20 (interquartile range of 17.52–38.78) ng/mL] within 48 h of onset (P < 0.05) (Table 1).