title: Procalcitonin as a marker of sepsis in alcoholic hepatitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Early diagnosis of sepsis in alcoholic hepatitis is important for selecting the appropriate therapy. The role of procalcitonin (PCT) to diagnose sepsis in patients with alcoholic hepatitis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is not yet clear.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients admitted with alcoholic hepatitis and SIRS underwent measurement of serum PCT and C reactive protein (CRP) levels within 24 h of admission. Patients were classified into two groups: group 1, alcoholic hepatitis with SIRS alone; group 2, alcoholic hepatitis with SIRS and sepsis. The ability of PCT to predict sepsis was evaluated using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analyses to compare the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study included 11 patients in group 1 and 29 in group 2. All were male (median age 42 years; range, 24-65 years). Age, dose and duration of alcohol intake, biochemical parameters and median MELD score were not significantly different between the two groups. PCT and CRP were significantly higher among group 2 than group 1 patients (p < 0.05). ROC analysis showed an AUC of 0.81 (95 % CI 0.66-0.96) and 0.83 (95 % CI 0.68-0.93) for PCT and CRP, respectively, in distinguishing sepsis from SIRS without sepsis. A cutoff level of 0.57 mcg/l for PCT (sensitivity 79 %, specificity 82 %) for diagnosing sepsis in patients with alcoholic hepatitis and SIRS was comparable to a serum CRP cutoff level of 2.3 mg/dl (sensitivity 82.0 %, specificity 75 %).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum PCT can be a useful marker for diagnosing sepsis in patients with alcoholic hepatitis and SIRS and compares favorably with serum CRP levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), MRA-A23, SGPGI Campus, Rae Bareli Road, Lucknow, 226014, Uttar Pradesh, India. kundanjip@gmail.com.|Department of Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Raibareily Road, Lucknow, 226014, India. kundanjip@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kundan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Raibareily Road, Lucknow, 226014, India.
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohindra
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Raibareily Road, Lucknow, 226014, India.
authors.forename: Mithun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raj
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Raibareily Road, Lucknow, 226014, India.
authors.forename: Gourdas
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Choudhuri
keywords: Alcoholic hepatitis; CRP; Cirrhosis; Procalcitonin; SIRS; Sepsis