Usefulness of serum procalcitonin in the early diagnosis of maternal-fetal bacterial infection. A prospective study

Early diagnosis avoiding unnecessary treatment of maternal-fetal bacterial infection remains one of the greatest challenges for obstetricians and pediatricians. To meet these objectives, many inflammatory mediators were used, including procalcitonin (PCT). The aim of our study was to determine the u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archives de pédiatrie : organe officiel de la Société française de pédiatrie 2011-03, Vol.18 (3), p.267-271
Main Authors: Chaouachi, S, Marrakchi, O, Ben Hamida, E, Abidi, K, Béchir, Z, Abdelmoula Jouda, J, Marrakchi, Z
Format: Article
Language:fre
Subjects:
Bacterial Infections - blood
Bacterial Infections - diagnosis
Calcitonin - blood
Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide
Early Diagnosis
Female
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Newborn, Diseases - blood
Infant, Newborn, Diseases - diagnosis
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - diagnosis
Prospective Studies
Protein Precursors - blood
ROC Curve
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Summary:Early diagnosis avoiding unnecessary treatment of maternal-fetal bacterial infection remains one of the greatest challenges for obstetricians and pediatricians. To meet these objectives, many inflammatory mediators were used, including procalcitonin (PCT). The aim of our study was to determine the usefulness of PCT in early diagnosis and management of neonatal infection. Over a period of 8 months, all living newborns with highly suspected maternal-fetal bacterial infection who were to receive antibiotic treatment according to our neonatal unit protocol were included in this prospective study. Serum PCT concentrations were determined at birth and after 12h of life using a specific immunoluminometric assay. Two distinct populations were defined based on clinical, biological, and bacteriological criteria: group 1: infected neonates, and group 2: noninfected neonates. We compared PCT means in different groups and determined the cut-off value correlated with maternal-fetal bacterial infection by analyzing the receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC). A total of 130 neonates were included in the study: 38 (29%) were classified in group 1 with 29 possible infections and 9 defined infections, including 5 cases of septicemia. The average PCT at birth in group 1 was significantly higher than in group 2 (3.52 ± 8.19 ng/ml vs 0.43 ± 0.73 ng/ml; P
ISSN:1769-664X
DOI:10.1016/j.arcped.2010.12.009