Open AccessProcalcitonin Use in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Author(s) -
Jeffrey J. Cies,
Arun Chopra
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the pediatric infectious disease journal/the pediatric infectious disease journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1532-0987
pISSN - 0891-3668
DOI - 10.1097/inf.0000000000000370
Subject(s) - procalcitonin , medicine , predictive value , intensive care unit , intensive care medicine , pediatric intensive care unit , intensive care , sepsis
We evaluated whether procalcitonin (PCT) might aid diagnosing serious bacterial infections in a general pediatric intensive care unit population. Two-hundred and one patients accounted for 332 PCT samples. A PCT ≥1.45 ng/mL had a positive predictive value of 30%, a negative predictive value of 93% and a sensitivity of 72% and a specificity of 75%. These data suggest PCT can assist in identifying patients without serious bacterial infections and limit antimicrobial use.