title: [Procalcitonin as a diagnostic biomarker of sepsis in children with cancer, fever and neutropenia: literature review].
abstract: Among cancer and septic patients, there is a deregulation of common events such as inflammation. This fact limits the use of biomarkers to diagnose sepsis. Through a search in the PubMed database, we identified the clinical studies that evaluated procalcitonin as a biomarker among children with cancer and sepsis; we analyzed its characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Most of the studies suggest that with a cut-off point between 0.5 ng/dl and 1 mg/dl, procalcitonin displays a sensitivity of 59-78%, a specificity of 76%, a predictive value of 93% and a negative predictive value of 45% to diagnose sepsis. The procalcitonin values were not modified by the use of chemotherapy or steroids. In the past few years, encouraging results have been obtained when using it as a biomarker in children with cancer, particularly with neutropenia and fever.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias de la Salud, concentración en Enfermedades Infecciosas.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reyna-Figueroa
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Centro de Investigación sobre Enfermedades Infecciosas.
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lagunas-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Pediatría, Hospital Central Sur de Alta Especialidad, Petróleos Mexicanos.
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Martínez Matsumoto
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Centro de Investigación sobre Enfermedades Infecciosas.
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Madrid-Marina
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D005334:Fever / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000150:complications; D011498:Protein Precursors; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin