[Diagnostic approach to flogosis: procalcitonin validity]

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Infectious Diseases
• Biomarker Analysis
• Clinical Diagnostics

Background:

• C-reactive protein (CRP) is a common marker for inflammation.
• Procalcitonin (PCT) is increasingly recognized as a potential biomarker for bacterial infections.

Purpose of the Study:

• Compare procalcitonin (PCT) and CRP as diagnostic markers in pediatric diseases.
• Evaluate PCT's diagnostic accuracy, correlation with inflammation etiology, and severity.
• Assess the utility of PCT in differentiating infection types in children.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 141 children hospitalized with fever of bacterial, viral, or inflammatory origin.
• Measurement of PCT and CRP at hospital admission and after defervescence.
• Calculation of sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values for both biomarkers.

Main Results:

• Procalcitonin demonstrated diagnostic accuracy comparable to CRP across all evaluated pediatric cases.
• PCT positivity was observed in 85.7% of severe infections.
• PCT aided in identifying the infection etiology in approximately two-thirds of the patients.

Conclusions:

• Procalcitonin is a promising marker for infection monitoring due to rapid changes in levels and good correlation with infection severity and etiology.
• While PCT shows potential, routine use is not yet recommended due to uncertainties regarding optimal cut-off values and high costs.
• Further research is needed to establish standardized protocols for PCT utilization in pediatric clinical practice.