Presepsin in the prognosis of infectious diseases and diagnosis of infectious disseminated intravascular coagulation

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Few prospective studies have described the prognostic accuracy of presepsin for 28-day mortality during days 0 to 7, or its role in the diagnosis of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in patients with infection. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of presepsin levels by comparing infection markers such as procalcitonin, interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein, as well as markers of DIC such as fibrin degradation products (FDPs) and D-dimer, from days 0 to 7. DESIGN: A prospective, multicentre, observational study. SETTING: Four medical institutions between June 2010 and June 2011. PATIENTS: A total of 191 patients who fulfilled at least one of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria were enrolled in the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The presepsin levels were evaluated for their diagnostic accuracy in discriminating between SIRS and sepsis, the prognostic accuracy for 28-day mortality from days 0 to 7 and the diagnostic accuracy for DIC in patients with infection by comparison with other infection markers. RESULTS: The diagnostic accuracy for discriminating between SIRS and sepsis from combining the presepsin and procalcitonin measurements [area under the curve (AUC), 0.91; likelihood ratio, 4.96] was higher than that of presepsin (AUC, 0.89; likelihood ratio, 4.75) or procalcitonin (AUC, 0.85; likelihood ratio, 3.18) alone. Not only the correlation coefficient between the presepsin level and the sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score but also the prognostic accuracy of presepsin for 28-day mortality increased with the elapsed time, and both were highest at day 7. The diagnostic accuracy for DIC generated by combining presepsin and FDP (AUC, 0.84; likelihood ratio, 3.57) was higher than that of FDP (AUC, 0.82; likelihood ratio, 2.64) or presepsin (AUC, 0.80; likelihood ratio, 2.94) alone. CONCLUSION: The prognosis and severity of infection may be assessed more accurately by measuring the presepsin levels until day 7. Presepsin is a useful diagnostic tool for DIC with infection.