• Romolo M Dorizzi, Enrico Polati, Piersandro Sette, Anna Ferrari, Paolo Rizzotti, and Aldo Luzzani.
• Laboratorio Analisi Chimico Cliniche ed Ematologia, Ospedale Civile Maggiore, Azienda Ospedaliera di Verona, Piazzale Stefani 1, 37126 Verona, Italy. romolo.dorizzi@azosp.vr.it
• Clin. Biochem. 2006 Dec 1;39(12):1138-43.

ObjectivesTo assess the effectiveness of different procalcitonin cutoff values to distinguish non-infected (negative+SIRS) from infected (sepsis+severe sepsis+septic shock) medical and surgical patients.Design And MethodsPCT plasma concentration was measured using an automated chemiluminescence analyzer in 1013 samples collected in 103 patients within 24 h of admission in ICU and daily during the ICU stay. We compared PCT levels in medical and surgical patients. We also compared PCT plasma levels in non-infected versus infected patients and in SIRS versus infected patients both in medical and in surgical groups.ResultsMedian values of PCT plasma concentrations were significantly higher in infected than in non-infected groups, both in medical (3.18 vs. 0.45 microg/L) (p<0.0001) and in surgical (10.45 vs. 3.89 microg/L; p<0.0001) patients. At the cutoff of 1 microg/L, the LR+ was 4.78, at the cutoff of 6 microg/L was 12.53, and at the cutoff of 10 microg/L was 18.4.ConclusionsThis study highlights the need of different PCT cutoff values in medical and surgical critically ill patients, not only at the ICU admission but also in the entire ICU stay.

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