title: Procalcitonin: a marker of heart failure.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Serum procalcitonin levels are associated with congestive heart failure, but are not established biomarkers of the disease. We evaluated the predictive value of serum procalcitonin levels for diagnosing heart failure and assessing its severity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This retrospective, case-control study involved 59 subjects (mean age 59.7-10.1 years; 38 males), including 21 outpa- tients and 19 inpatients with heart failure and left ventricular ejection fractions <45%, and 19 healthy controls. Serum procalcitonin levels were measured and compared among the 3 groups. Procalcitonin levels were significantly higher among inpatients (median [interquartile range], 1.45 [0.25-5.801 ng/mL) than among the outpatients (0.35 [0.001.-1.70] ng/mL; P< 0.001) or controls (0.05 [0.02-0.08] ng/mL; P< 0.0011. Using a procalcitonin cut-off level of 0.09 ng/mL, 35 (87.5%) of the 40 inpatients and outpatients were procalcitonin-positive; all control individuals were procalcitonin-negative. Serum procalcitonin levels differentiated between heart failure patients and healthy controls (sensitivity, 88.9% [95% confidence interval, 75.9-96.2%]; specificity, 100% [82.2-100.0%]; positive predictive value, 100% [91.1-100.0%]; negative predictive value, 79.2% [57.8-92.8%]). Pro calcitonin levels were >0.53 ng/mL in 4/21 (19%) outpatients and in 16/19 (84.2%) inpatients. The sensitivity and specificity of serum procalcitonin levels for differentiating between inpatients and outpatients were 84.2% and 81.0%, respectively (positive predictive value 80% [95% confidence interval, 67.6-92.4%] and 85.0% [73.9-96.1%], respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum procalcitonin levels, showing high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing and assessing the severity of heart failure in this small study, might be considered ootential heart failure biomarkers.
authors.forename: Alper
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Canbay
authors.forename: Ozlem Ozcan
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Celebi
authors.forename: Savas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Celebi
authors.forename: Sinan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aydogdu
authors.forename: Erdem
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Diker
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013318:Stroke Volume; D014421:Turkey; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide