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Updated: Sep 27, 2026
A Neonatal Imaging Model of Gram-Negative Bacterial Sepsis
Published on: August 12, 2020
Diagnostic Performance of Soluble Fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase-1 and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor for Neonatal
Dandan Bei1, Yan Cheng1, Ruoxuan Jiang1
1Department of Neonatology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China.
Objective:
To evaluate the diagnostic performance of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as early biomarkers for neonatal sepsis, and to explore their association with length of hospital stay.
Methods:
This single-center case-control study consecutively enrolled 93 neonates (48 culture-confirmed sepsis, 45 infection without sepsis, and no infection). Serum sFlt-1 and VEGF were measured at diagnosis using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Diagnostic accuracy was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the curve (AUC).
Results:
Serum sFlt-1 and VEGF levels were significantly higher in the confirmed sepsis than in the infection without sepsis and no infection groups (P<0.01), and both biomarkers correlated with longer hospitalization (>10 vs. ≤10 days). ROC analysis showed strong diagnostic performance for sFlt-1 (AUC=0.89; 95% CI 0.808-0.904); at a cut-off of 73.61 pg/mL, sensitivity was 72.92% and specificity 88.89%. VEGF demonstrated an AUC of 0.934 (95% CI 0.863-0.975); at a cut-off of 113.4 pg/mL, sensitivity was 75.00% and specificity 88.89%.
Conclusion:
sFlt-1 and VEGF are significantly elevated in neonatal sepsis and show high early diagnostic accuracy, supporting their potential utility as early diagnostic biomarkers; multicenter validation is warranted.
