Serum procalcitonin levels in the postmortem diagnosis of sepsis

Procalcitonin is regarded as a valuable marker for sepsis in living persons and even in post-mortem investigations. At the Institute of Legal Medicine, 25 autopsy cases with suspected bacterial infectious diseases or sepsis were examined using the semi-quantitative PCT-Q(®)-test (B.R.A.H.M.S., Germany) in 2010 and 2011. As controls, 75 cadavers were used for which there was no suspicion of a bacterial infectious disease or sepsis. Femoral blood was cultured from the cases and from controls, and samples from the brain, heart, lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys were examined histologically for findings seen in sepsis. Twelve cases in the sepsis/infectious disease group (48%) were classifiable as sepsis following synopsis of PCT levels, autopsy results, and histopathological and microbiological findings. This study shows that the semi-quantitative PCT-Q(®)-test is a useful supplementary marker in routine autopsy investigations, capable of classifying death as due to sepsis.