The use of procalcitonin in the diagnosis of late-onset infection in neonatal intensive care unit patients

Betrand Isidor; Gaelle Caillaux; Valérie Gilquin; Virgine Loubersac; Jocelyne Caillon; Jean Christophe Roze; Christèle Gras-le Guen

doi:10.1080/00365540701466181

The use of procalcitonin in the diagnosis of late-onset infection in neonatal intensive care unit patients

Scand J Infect Dis. 2007;39(11-12):1063-6. doi: 10.1080/00365540701466181. Epub 2007 Jun 28.

Authors

Betrand Isidor¹, Gaelle Caillaux, Valérie Gilquin, Virgine Loubersac, Jocelyne Caillon, Jean Christophe Roze, Christèle Gras-le Guen

Affiliation

¹ Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Chu Nantes, Nantes, France.

PMID: 17852930
DOI: 10.1080/00365540701466181

Abstract

We evaluated the semi-quantitative procalcitonin level for diagnosing late-onset infections in 176 neonates. Using a cut-off level of 0.5 ng/ml, the sensitivity was 84.4%+/-0.19, specificity was 93.9%+/-0.04, positive predictive value was 82.6%+/-0.1, and negative predictive value was 94.6%+/-0.04. Procalcitonin could be a useful marker of late-onset infection in neonates.

MeSH terms

Bacterial Infections / blood*
Bacterial Infections / diagnosis*
Calcitonin / blood*
Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Newborn, Diseases / blood*
Infant, Newborn, Diseases / diagnosis*
Intensive Care Units, Neonatal
Protein Precursors / blood*
Sensitivity and Specificity

Substances

CALCA protein, human
Protein Precursors
Calcitonin
Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide