Procalcitonin better than C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and white blood cell count in predicting DNAemia in patients with sepsis

Procalcitonin (PCT) levels can be used to predict bacteremia and DNAemia in patients with sepsis. In this study, the diagnostic accuracy of PCT in predicting blood culture (BC) results and DNAemia, as detected by real-time PCR (RT-PCR), was compared with that of other markers of inflammation commonly evaluated in patients with suspected sepsis, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and white blood cell (WBC) count. CONCLUSIONS: PCT showed a better diagnostic accuracy than CRP, ESR, and WBC count in predicting DNAemia and bacteremia in patients with suspected sepsis