Diagnosing infection after infant open heart surgery: role of procalcitonin

摘要

Background Diagnosing infection in infants after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass remains challenging. We aimed to determine whether procalcitonin discriminates post-cardiopulmonary bypass systemic inflammatory response syndrome from bacterial infection in infants better than C-reactive protein and leukocyte count. Method One hundred and eight infants underwent cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Leukocyte count, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin were measured on arrival in the intensive care unit as baseline, and repeated on postoperative day 3. Bacterial infection was defined as proven infection with a positive blood or sputum culture. Results Twenty-four infants had proven bacterial infection. Baseline leukocyte counts and C-reactive protein levels did not differ significantly between the 2 groups. On postoperative day 3, C-reactive protein (62 vs. 38.5?mg·L~(?1), p ?=?0.01) and procalcitonin levels (6.58 vs. 0.41?ng·mL~(?1), p ?