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Procalcitonin in patients with and without immunosuppression and sepsis

Procalcitonin bei Patienten mit Sepsis mit und ohne Immunsuppression

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Summary

High serum levels of procalcitonin (PCT) are observed in patients with sepsis or severe infection. In a prospective study of 122 hospitalised adult medical patients with sepsis, serum PCT was determined on admission and for 9 days thereafter. Patients with no alteration in their immune system showed high PCT values up to day 5, decreasing to normal levels by day 9. Patients with sepsis and immunodeficiency had high values on days 0 to 2, similar to the first group, but showed significantly lower levels on the following 3 days. PCT concentrations fell to base line levels on days 6 to 9 of the sepsis episode in both groups. The observed difference was not significantly related to the kind of causative microorganism or a culture negative sepsis. Leukopenia seemed to go together with lower PCT values after day 2 of the episode, but this could not be proven statistically.

Zusammenfassung

Bei Patienten mit Sepsis oder schweren Infektionen sind erhöhte Werte des Hormons Procalcitonin (PCT) beschrieben worden. In einer prospektiven Studie wurde PCT im Serum von 122 erwachsenen Patienten mit Sepsis, die in der Abteilung für Innere Medizin hospitalisiert waren, am Tag der Aufnahme und bis zu 9 Tage danach bestimmt. Patienten mit intaktem Immunsystem hatten bis zum 5. Tag erhöhte PCT-Werte, die sich bis zum 9. Tag normalisierten. Patienten mit Sepsis und Immundefizienz hatten am Tag 0 bis 2 ebenfalls erhöhte Werte. Sie wiesen jedoch an den folgenden 3 Tagen signifikant niedrigere Werte auf als die Patienten der ersten Gruppe. Die PCT-Konzentrationen gingen am Tag 6 bis 9 der Sepsisepisode in beiden Gruppen auf Normalwerte zurück. Der beobachtete Unterschied der PCT-Konzentrationen stand weder in signifikantem Zusammenhang mit der Art des Mikroorganismus, der die Sepsis verursachte, noch mit einer Sepsis mit negativer Blutkultur. Eine Leukopenie scheint mit niedrigeren PCT-Werten am Tag 2 der Sepsisepisode einherzugehen, dies konnte jedoch nicht statistisch bewiesen werden.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medizinische Klinik III, Schwerpunkt Infektiologie, Klinikum der J.W.-Goethe-Universität, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, D-60596, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    B. Al-Nawas &  P. M. Shah

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  1. B. Al-Nawas
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  2. P. M. Shah
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Al-Nawas, B., Shah, P.M. Procalcitonin in patients with and without immunosuppression and sepsis. Infection 24, 434–436 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01713044

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01713044

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