Procalcitonin in preoperative diagnosis of abdominal sepsis

• Published in: Langenbeck's archives of surgery Vol. 393; no. 3; pp. 397 - 403
• Main Authors: Ivančević, Nenad, Radenković, Dejan, Bumbaširević, Vesna, Karamarković, Aleksandar, Jeremić, Vasilije, Kalezić, Nevena, Vodnik, Tatjana, Beleslin, Biljana, Milić, Nataša, Gregorić, Pavle, Žarković, Miloš
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.05.2008
• Subjects: Abdominal Surgery; Acute Disease; Adult; Aged; APACHE; Calcitonin - blood; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; Cardiac Surgery; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; General Surgery; Humans; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Original Article; Peritonitis - diagnosis; Peritonitis - surgery; Predictive Value of Tests; Prospective Studies; Protein Precursors - blood; Sepsis - diagnosis; Sepsis - surgery; Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome - diagnosis; Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome - surgery; Thoracic Surgery; Traumatic Surgery; Vascular Surgery; SIRS; Sepsis; Procalcitonin
• ISSN: 1435-2443; 1435-2451
• DOI: 10.1007/s00423-007-0239-5

Background and aims The present study attempted to identify the diagnostic significance of procalcitonin (PCT) in acute abdominal conditions as well as the range of concentrations relating to diagnosis of abdominal sepsis. Materials and methods This was prospective clinical study. The study included 98 consecutive patients with acute abdominal conditions, divided in sepsis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) group. Results PCT concentrations on admission were significantly higher in the sepsis group than in the SIRS group (median [interquartile range] 2.32 [7.41] vs 0.45 ng/ml [2.62]). A cutoff value of 1.1 ng/ml yielded 72.4% sensitivity and 62.5% specificity. In a group of patients with abdominal symptoms lasting for more than 24 h, a cut-off value of 1.1 ng/ml yielded higher sensitivity (82.9%) and higher specificity (77.3%). Conclusion Our results suggest that PCT measurements may be useful for early, preoperative diagnosis of abdominal sepsis.