Investigation on application value of serum procalcitonin in diagnosis of invasive fungal infections

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the application value of serum procalcitonin(PCT) in diagnosing invasive fungal infection(IFI).METHODS Patients who had symptoms of systemic inflammatory response syndrome(SIRS),clinical infection and positive outcomes of specimen culture were recruited and their serum procalcitonin levels were measured by semi-quantitative immunochromatographic method.RESULTS There were 36 cases(73.47%) in fungal infection group and 5 cases(9.62%) in bacterial infection when PCT was less than 0.5 ng/ml.When PCT ≥ 0.5ng/ml,the sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value(PPV) and negative predictive value(NPV) in diagnosing bacterial infection were 90.38%,73.47%,78.33% and 87.8%,respectively.It could highly indicated fungal infection when the serum procalcitonin was less than 0.5 ng/ml.CONCLUSION For the patients who have symptoms of clinical infections,it can effectively indicate fungal infection when their serum procalcitonin levels are less than 0.5 ng/ml;the serum procalcitonin can serve as an indicator assisting the clinical diagnosis.