Introduction:

Sepsis and septic shock are the main causes of admission to intensive care units, in the world it is estimated that 20-30 million cases of sepsis occur annually. One third or the half of these cases die.

Objective:

The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of procalcitonin in sepsis and septic shock.

Material and methods:

We perform an analytical, prospective, longitudinal observational study from September 1st, 2017 to May 31st, 2018, in the intensive care unit, procalcitonin as well as the classification of sepsis or septic shock criteria of SEPSIS-3 were taken at the time of admission, and the diagnostic efficiency of these biomarkers was performed.

Results:

171 patients were admitted to the ICU in this period, diagnosis of admission 63 (40.9%) admitted with sepsis, and of them 36 (57.1%) with septic shock, 91 (59.1%) with other diagnoses; It was APACHE II, quick-SOFA and SOFA 12.83 ( ± 7.92), 1.11 ( ± 0.92), 4.64 ( ± 3.03) in controls vs 22.45 ( ± 7.24), 2.14 ( ± 0.83), 8.18 ( ± 3.50) in patients with Sepsis or septic shock, the three p < 0.001. The determination of procalcitonin in controls vs patients with sepsis / septic shock was: 2.37 ± 5.88 vs 13.22 ± 15.84 with p value of < 0.001. The efficacy of procalcitonin for diagnosing sepsis (sepsis criteria 3), sensitivity 60%, specificity 75.4%, positive predictive value 68.8%, negative predictive value 67.6% and the area under the curve of the operative characteristic of the receiver was 0.767.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, procalcitonin on admission to the intensive care unit serves as a biomarker for the diagnosis of sepsis/septic shock, however it should not be used as a single test, always in conjunction with the diagnostic criteria.

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