Le infezioni in medicina : rivista periodica di eziologia, epidemiologia, diagnostica, clinica e terapia delle patologie infettive
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Comparative Study
Procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and serum lactate dehydrogenase in the diagnosis of bacterial sepsis, SIRS and systemic candidiasis.
The aim of this study was to evaluate procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), platelet count (PLT) and serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) as early markers for diagnosis of SIRS, bacterial sepsis and systemic candidiasis in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Based on blood culture results, the patients were divided into a sepsis group (70 patients), a SIRS group (42 patients) and a systemic candidiasis group (33 patients). PCT, CRP, LDH and PLT levels were measured on day 0 and on day 2 from the sepsis symptom onset. ⋯ However, PCT was unable to discriminate between SIRS and systemic candidiasis groups (P=0.093 N. S.). In conclusion, PCT can be used as a preliminary marker in the event of clinical suspicion of systemic candidiasis; however, low PCT levels (<0.99 ng/mL) necessarily require the use of other specific markers of candidaemia to confirm the diagnosis, due to great uniformity of PCT levels in systemic candidiasis and SIRS groups.