title: Procalcitonin as a biomarker of bacterial infection in pediatric patients after congenital heart surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bacterial infection (BI) after congenital heart surgery (CHS) is associated with increased morbidity and is difficult to differentiate from systemic inflammatory response syndrome caused by cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Procalcitonin (PCT) has emerged as a reliable biomarker of BI in various populations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the optimal PCT threshold to identify BI among children suspected of having infection following CPB.
  
  
  METHODS
  Single-center retrospective observational study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical records of all the patients admitted between January 2013 and April 2015 were reviewed. Patients in the age range of 0-21 years of age who underwent CHS requiring CPB in whom PCT was drawn between postoperative days 0-8 due to suspicion of infection were included.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for nonparametric variables. The diagnostic performance of PCT was evaluated using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-eight patients were included. The median age was 2 months (25th and 75th interquartile of 0.1-7.5 months). Eleven patients were included in the BI group. The median PCT for the BI group (3.42 ng/mL, 25th and 75th interquartile of 2.34-5.67) was significantly higher than the median PCT for the noninfected group (0.8 ng/mL, 25th and 75th interquartile 0.38-3.39), P = 0.028. The PCT level that yielded the best compromise between the sensitivity (81.8%) and specificity (66.7%) was 2 ng/mL with an area under the ROC curve of 0.742.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A PCT less than 2 ng/mL makes BI unlikely in children suspected of infection after CHS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Sujata B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Chakravarti
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Diane A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Reformina
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Sunil P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Malhotra
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Ralph S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mosca
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Puneet
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bhatla
keywords: Cardiac surgery; cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB); congenital heart surgery; infection; pediatric; procalcitonin (PCT)