Procalcitonin as a Diagnostic Marker for Sepsis and Antibiotic Therapy in Surgical Care Patients

Background: Sepsis is becoming a frequent complication in hospitalized patients. Early and differential diagnosis of sepsis is needed critically.Procalcitonin is useful for the diagnosis of sepsis but its prognostic value regarding mortality is unclear. Aim: To study about the utility of procalcitonin as a diagnostic biomarker for bacterial infections and its efficient use as a marker for antibiotic therapy. Materials and methods:This prospective observational study was conducted among patients admitted with Septicemia in a tertiary care hospital from January 2019 to May 2020.In Sixty consecutive patients of sepsis,Procalcitonin (PCT),C-reactive protein (CRP) measurements were recorded in addition to their demographic, laboratory values and treatment outcomes. Results:Mortality rates were 6.5%, 28.6% and 62.5% respectively in the three groups of sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock, respectively. It was inferred that more the severity of sepsis,more is the positivity rate of serum procalcitonin levels. Similarly,the serum PCT values were higher among non-survivors [13.1ng/dl]. Procalcitonin value was a better predictor of all-cause short-term mortality than Creactive protein as denoted by ROC analysis. Conclusions: PCT done once at the time of admission was proven to be very good,cost effective biomarker for the early identification of sepsis better than CRP levels and cultures.