The utility of presepsin in diagnosis and risk stratification for the emergency patients with sepsis

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the value of presepsin in diagnosis and risk stratification of septic patients in emergency department, and investigate the utility in differentiation of gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial infection. Methods We enrolled 72 patients with sepsis and 23 nonbacterial patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) who were admitted to the emergency department of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital. Meanwhile, 20 healthy volunteers were included. Plasma presepsin, serum PCT, C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate and white blood cells (WBC) were measured, and APACHE II score were calculated upon admission. The receiver-operating-characteristic curve (ROC) was computed and the area under the ROC curve was for evaluating the value to diagnose sepsis. Then the patients were grouped according to the result of culture and severity of sepsis. Results The levels of presepsin, PCT, CRP and WBC were apparently higher in sepsis patients than in nonbacterial SIRS group ( P P P Conclusion Presepsin was a promising biomarker for initially diagnosis and risk stratification of sepsis, and a potential marker to distinguish gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial infection.