Procalcitonin as a marker of nosocomial infections in the neonatal intensive care unit

Objective To determine accuracy of procalcitonin concentrations for diagnosing nosocomial infections in critically ill neonates. Design Case-control study. Setting Neonatal intensive care unit of a teaching hospital. Patients Twenty-three neonates with nosocomial infection. Four controls matched for duration of hospital stay and birth date were chosen for each case patient. Measurements and results PCT concentrations were measured by the LUMItest procalcitonin kit at onset of signs of infection and after recovery. Range of PCT concentrations (ng/ml) was 2.0 to 249.1 in case patients and 0.08 to 1.0 in controls (sensitivity and specificity, 100%). PCT values returned to normal (<1.0 ng/ml) by day 3 to 7 of appropriate antibiotic therapy. Conclusions Measurement of PCT concentrations may be useful for early diagnosis and monitoring of infectious complications in neonates during their stay in the neonatal intensive care unit.