Reliability of procalcitonin in neonatology. Experience in 59 preterm newborns.
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.
Spada
Serena
S
Neonatal Pathology and Intensive Therapy, University of Cagliari, Italy.
Cuccu
Antonella
A
Mussap
Michele
M
Testa
Marcella
M
Puddu
Melania
M
Pisu
Cinzia
C
Burrai
Pietrina
P
Fanos
Vassilios
V
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
D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide