Procalcitonin as an early marker of postoperative infectious complications
Di Filippo, A.; Lombardi, A.; Ognibene, A.; Messeri, G.; Tonelli, F.
Minerva Chirurgica 57(1): 59-62
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 0026-4733 PMID: 11832860 Document Number: 550340
Procalcitonin (PCT) is a new marker for severe infection that is supposed to have a useful role in the early detection of bacterial infection in the perioperative period. to test the hypothesis that PCT is useful as an early marker of postoperative infectious complications. Thirty-three patients were submitted to major abdominal interventions that comprehend an intestinal resection (mean age: 49.9+/-19.3 years; 19 males, 14 females). PCT was tested at 4 times: T1=preoperative; T2=6 hours after starting interventions; T3=24 hours after; T4=48 hours after. "t"-Student test and Pearson correlation. In the postoperative course 11 patients had infectious complications that were: 3 wound infections, 2 positive haemocolture, 1 pneumonia, 3 deep abdominal infections, 2 anastomotic dehiscences. In these patients only the 24 hours PCT assay at T3 was higher than in the other patients that had not complications (microgram/ml 4.74+/-3.8 vs 1.22+/-0.8; p<0.0001). The cut off value of 1 ng/ml has a sensibility of 70% and a specificity of 81%. PCT detection appear to be an important aid for early diagnosis of postoperative infectious complications when it is used with the other indexes.