ABSTRACT
Septicemia is a systemic disease associated with the presence and persistence of bacteria and their toxins in the blood. It is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the neonatal period. Early diagnosis and proper manag-ement of neonatal septicemia can bring down the morbidity and mortality rates. Procalcitonin [PCT] has recently become of interest and proposed as a possible marker of the systemic inflammatory response to infection in critically ill patients. The aim of this study was to clarify the diagnostic value of serum Procalcitonin [PCT] level as an early marker for diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. Twenty neonates with maternal risk factors for sepsis were included in this study. They included 8 males, 12 females with a mean gestational age of 38.2 +/- 1.76 weeks and mean birth weight of 3.25 +/- 0.34 kg. Twenty healthy children of matched age and sex with no maternal risk factors for sepsis were included in the study as a control group. Serum PCT concentrations were measured at umbilical cord blood samples, taken at time of delivery and peripheral blood samples taken 48 hours later using an immunochromatographic semi quantitative test [PCT-Q; Brahms, Hennigsdorf, Germany] and C- reactive protein [CRP] concentration was measured using an immune-oreactive quantitative method. Serum PCT concentrations were significantly higher in neonates with confirmed sepsis than both control group and neonates with clinically suspected but not confirmed sepsis. PCT is a more sensitive and specific early marker of neonatal sepsis compared with other laboratory parameters of sepsis