ArticleBMC anesthesiology2014
Procalcitonin as a marker of Candida species detection by blood culture and polymerase chain reaction in septic patients.
Article in BMC anesthesiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Procalcitonin levels in candidemia versus bacteremia: a systematic review.Critical care (London, England) · 2019Pooled it
- Sepsis Biomarkers in Evolution: Comparative Insights and the Promising Roles of MDW and Presepsin.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Review
- Rapid molecular assays versus blood culture for bloodstream infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- The Diagnostic Accuracy of Procalcitonin and Its Combination with Other Biomarkers for Candidemia in Critically Ill Patients.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Multiplex polymerase chain reaction to diagnose bloodstream infections in patients after cardiothoracic surgery.BMC anesthesiology · 2019Observational
- Ability of serum procalcitonin to distinguish focus of infection and pathogen types in patients with bloodstream infection.Annals of translational medicine · 2019Article
- Usefulness of procalcitonin in differentiating Candida and bacterial blood stream infections in critically ill septic patients outside the intensive care unit.Internal and emergency medicine · 2017Article
- Combined use of serum (1,3)-β-D-glucan and procalcitonin for the early differential diagnosis between candidaemia and bacteraemia in intensive care units.Critical care (London, England) · 2017Article
- Intra-abdominalJournal of clinical pathology · 2017Article
- Article
- Clinical characteristics and predictors of mortality in cirrhotic patients with candidemia and intra-abdominal candidiasis: a multicenter study.Intensive care medicine · 2017Article
- Procalcitonin for the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis: what is the evidence?Journal of intensive care · 2017Article
- Should we Administer Antifungal Drugs Before the Diagnosis of Invasive Fungal Infection in Non-Neutropenic Critically Ill Patients?Turkish journal of anaesthesiology and reanimation · 2016Article
- Utility of blood procalcitonin concentration in the management of cancer patients with infections.OncoTargets and therapy · 2016Review
- Observational
- Procalcitonin is a marker of gram-negative bacteremia in patients with sepsis.The American journal of the medical sciences · 2015Observational
- Sepsis: From Pathophysiology to Individualized Patient Care.Journal of immunology research · 2015Review
- COMPARISON BETWEEN FOUR USUAL METHODS OF IDENTIFICATION OF Candida SPECIES.Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao PauloArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe aim of our study is to test procalcitonin (PCT) as surrogate marker of identification of Candida spp. by blood culture (BC) and real-time-polymerase chain reaction (PCR), whether alone or in association with bacteria, in septic patients.
methodsWe performed a single-centre retrospective study. We reviewed the clinical charts of patients with a diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock treated at our general intensive care unit from March 2009 to March 2013. We analysed all diagnostic episodes consisting of BC, real-time PCR assay and dosage of PCT. We registered age, sex, white blood count, sequential organ failure assessment score and type of admission between medical or surgical. When inclusion criteria were met more than once, we registered the new diagnostic episode as subsequent diagnostic episode. The diagnostic performance of PCT to predict Candida spp. identification alone or in mixed infections by either BC or PCR was tested using the receiver-operative characteristic curve. Logistic regression was constructed using presence of Candida spp. as the dependent variable.
resultsA total of 260 diagnostic episodes met the inclusion criteria. According to BC results classification, a significantly lower value of PCT was observed in Candida spp. BSI (0.99 ng/ml, 0.86 - 1.34) than in BSI caused by bacteria (16.7 ng/ml, 7.65 - 50.2) or in mixed infections (4.76 ng/ml, 2.98 - 6.08). Similar findings were observed considering PCR results. A cut-off of ≤ 6.08 ng/ml for PCT yielded a sensitivity of 86.8%, a specificity of 87.4%, a positive predictive value of 63.9%, a negative predictive value (NPV) of 96.3% and an area under the curve of 0.93 for Candida spp. identification by BC. A similar high NPV for a cut-off ≤ 6.78 ng/ml was observed considering the classification of diagnostic episodes according to PCR results, with an AUC of 0.85. A subsequent diagnostic episode was independently associated with Candida spp. detection either by BC or PCR.
conclusionPCT could represent a useful diagnostic tool to exclude the detection of Candida spp. by BC and PCR in septic patients.
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