Study on levels of serum procalcitonin and C-reactive protein in neonatal sepsis patients

Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of the detection of serum procalcitonin(PCT)and C-reactive protein(CRP)in the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis.Methods Solid-phase immune chromatography and immune nephelometry were used to determine the levels of serum PCT and CRP in neonatal sepsis patients,and the testing data were compared with the levels of white blood cell count.Results The levels of PCT and CRP in the neonatal sepsis group were significantly higher than those in controls(P0.01).However,the differences of white blood celll count between them were not significant(P0.05).The levels of PCT and CRP were positively correlated to the severity of the illness.Conclusion PCT and CRP are both important makers for early recognizing of neonatal sepsis and the severity of the illness in the neonatal sepsis patients,PCT has important significance in early diagnosis and evaluation of patients prognosis.