title: Reliability of procalcitonin in neonatology. Experience in 59 preterm newborns.
abstract: Procalcitonin (PCT) has been proposed as an interesting marker in the diagnosis, prognosis, and response to treatment of patient with neonatal sepsis. Fifty-nine neonates (34 males and 25 females) with a mean gestational age of approximately 31 weeks and a mean weight of about 1750 g admitted in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Cagliari (Italy) were evaluated in controls and in infected neonates, before and after 48 h of life. From our experience it emerges that PCT is a marker of early and late neonatal sepsis which is reliable in preterm neonates. A cut-off of 0.5 ng/ml starting from the third day of life appears to be capable of ensuring good test sensitivity and specificity.
authors.affiliation: Neonatal Pathology and Intensive Therapy, University of Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spada
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cuccu
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mussap
authors.forename: Marcella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Testa
authors.forename: Melania
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Puddu
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pisu
authors.forename: Pietrina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Burrai
authors.forename: Vassilios
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fanos
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide