title: Does procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, or interleukin-6 test have a role in the diagnosis of severe infection in patients with febrile neutropenia? A systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study aims to determine the usefulness of procalcitonin (PCT) and other blood markers for identification of bacterial infection among patients with febrile neutropenia (FN).
  
  
  METHODS
  The Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched for articles from 1966 to December 2012. We performed a search to identify articles that examined the diagnostic accuracy of PCT in patients with FN. Statistical analyses (fixed- or random-effect models) were conducted to summarize and calculate the sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-seven studies were included (1960 febrile episodes) for PCT analysis, 13 (1712 febrile episodes) for C-reactive protein (CRP) analysis, and five (314 febrile episodes) for interleukin (IL)-6 analysis. Increased PCT levels (odds ratio [OR] 11.5; 95 % CI 7.6 to 17.3), raised CRP levels (3.3; 2.7 to 4.2), and raised IL-6 levels (10.0; 5.5 to 18.0) were significantly associated with bacterial infection. Overall positive likelihood ratio was 5.49 (4.04-7.45) for PCT, 1.82 (1.42-2.33) for CRP, and 3.68 (2.41-5.60) for IL-6. Overall negative likelihood ratio was 0.40 (0.31-0.51) for PCT, 0.40 (0.26-0.61) for CRP, and 0.33 (0.23-0.46) for IL-6.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Of the three potentially useful markers, PCT had the best positive likelihood ratio and can be used to confirm the diagnosis of bacterial infections in patients with FN. Due to unacceptably high negative likelihood ratio, medical decision for stopping antibiotics based on PCT alone in this high-risk population may not be possible.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chun-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jiunn-Yih
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Chun-Kuei
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shiau-Ling
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Shou-Chien
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Meng-Tse Gabriel
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Shy-Shin
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Chien-Chang
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D064147:Febrile Neutropenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism*; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; C508600:IL6 protein, human; D015850:Interleukin-6; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide