TY - JOUR T1 - Procalcitonin in detecting neonatal nosocomial sepsis JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition JO - Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed SP - F368 LP - F370 DO - 10.1136/fetalneonatal-2010-194100 VL - 97 IS - 5 AU - Cinzia Auriti AU - Ersilia Fiscarelli AU - Maria Paola Ronchetti AU - Marta Argentieri AU - Gabriella Marrocco AU - Anna Quondamcarlo AU - Giulio Seganti AU - Francesco Bagnoli AU - Giuseppe Buonocore AU - Giovanni Serra AU - Gianfranco Bacolla AU - Savino Mastropasqua AU - Annibale Mari AU - Carlo Corchia AU - Giusi Prencipe AU - Fiammetta Piersigilli AU - Lucilla Ravà AU - Vincenzo Di Ciommo Y1 - 2012/09/01 UR - http://fn.bmj.com/content/97/5/F368.abstract N2 - Objective To investigate the accuracy of procalcitonin (PCT) as a diagnostic marker of nosocomial sepsis (NS) and define the most accurate cut-off to distinguish infected from uninfected neonates. Setting Six neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Patients 762 neonates admitted to six NICUs during a 28-month observational study for whom at least one serum sample was taken on admission. Main outcome measures Positive and negative predictive values at different PCT cut-off levels. Results The overall probability of an NS was doubled or more if PCT was >0.5 ng/ml. In very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants, a cut-off of >2.4 ng/ml gave a positive predictive value of NS near to 50% with a probability of a false-positive diagnosis of NS in about 10% of the patients. Conclusions In VLBW neonates, a serum PCT value >2.4 ng/ml prompts early empirical antibiotic therapy, while in normal-birth-weight infants, a PCT value ≤2.4 ng/ml carries a low risk of missing an NS. ER -