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Updated: Apr 25, 2026
A Neonatal Imaging Model of Gram-Negative Bacterial Sepsis
Published on: August 12, 2020
A mathematical algorithm for detection of late-onset sepsis in very-low birth weight infants: a preliminary
Ilan Gur1, Gal Markel, Yaron Nave
1Neonatology Intensive Care Unit, Bikur Holim Hospital, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem; *Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv; #Department of Pediatrics, Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Ramat-Gan, and $Department of Neonatology, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa; Israel. Correspondence to: Dr Arieh Riskin, Department of Neonatology, Bnai-Zion Medical Center, 47 Golomb Street, P.O.B. 4940, Haifa 31048, Israel. arik.riskin@gmail.com.
Objective:
To study the diagnostic ability of RALIS (computerized mathematical algorithm and continuous monitoring device) to detect late onset sepsis among very low birth weight preterm neonates.
Methods:
Randomly chosen 24 very low birth weight infants with proven sepsis were compared to 22 infants without sepsis. The clinical parameters were retrospectively collected from the medical records. The ability of RALIS to detect late onset sepsis was calculated.
Results:
RALIS positively identified 23 of the 24 infants with sepsis (sensitivity 95.8%). It indicated sepsis alert median 2.0 days earlier than clinical suspicion. A false positive alert was indicated in 23% (5/22) infants. The specificity, and positive and negative predictive ability of RALIS were 77.3%. 82.1% and 94.4%, respectively.
Conclusion:
RALIS may aid in the early diagnosis of late onset sepsis in very low birth weight preterm infants.
