Procalcitonin applied in early diagnosis of neonatal infection

Objective To explore the early diagnosis method of neonatal infectious diseases and to investigate the clinical significance of procalcitonin(PCT) applied to neonatal infection.Methods Serum PCT,C-reaction protein(CRP),blood routine and blood culture were measured in a total of 76 infectious neonates before antibiotics were administered.Their sensitivities and specificities for diagnosing bacterial infection were compared.Result(1)Serum PCT sensitivity and specificity for bacterial infection were 81.36%(48/59) and 64.7%(11/17) respectively.(2)CRP sensitivity and specificity for bacterial infection were 47.46%(28/59) and 70.59%(12/17),with a significant difference(P0.01) of sensitivity and no significant difference(P0.05) in specificity compared to serum PCT.(3)Sensitivity and specificity for bacterial infection of WBC count and(or) abnormal classification were 52.54%(31/59) and 52.94%(9/17),with a significant difference(P0.05) compared with serum PCT.Conclusion As an early neonatal infection marker,serum PCT is superior to CRP and WBC count and classification.Dynamic monitoring the PCT level can be used to early diagnose and effectively treat neonatal infection,also it can be used to judge whether the infection is controlled.