Observational studyPloS one2021
Infection…what else? The usefulness of procalcitonin in children after cardiac surgery.
Observational study in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evaluation of the Course of Acute-Phase Reactants in the Postoperative Period of Newborns and Their Diagnostic Utility in Identifying Postoperative Sepsis.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Use of procalcitonin in therapeutic decisions in the pediatric intensive care unit.Annals of intensive care · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesProcalcitonin is a useful biomarker for predicting bacterial infection after cardiac surgery. However, sometimes procalcitonin rises following cardiac surgery without a confirmation of bacterial infection. The aim was to analyse procalcitonin levels in children without a bacterial infection after cardiac surgery. STUDY
designThis is a prospective, observational study of children <18 years old admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit after cardiac surgery.
results1,042 children were included, 996 (95.6%) without a bacterial infection. From them, severe complications occurred in 132 patients (13.3%). Procalcitonin increased differentially depending on the type of complication. Patients who presented a poor outcome (n = 26, 2.6%) had higher procalcitonin values in the postoperative period than the rest of patients (<24 hours: 5.8 ng/mL vs. 0.6 ng/mL; 24-48 hours, 5.1 ng/mL vs. 0.8 ng/mL, and 48-72 hours, 5.3 ng/mL vs. 1.2 ng/mL), but these values remained stable over time (p = 0.732; p = 0.110). The AUC for procalcitonin for predicting poor outcome was 0.876 in the first 24 hours. The cut-off point to predict poor outcome was 2 ng/mL in the first 24 hours (sensitivity 86.9%, specificity 77.3%). Patients with bacterial infection (n = 46) presented higher values of procalcitonin initially, but they decreased in the 48-72 hours period (<24 hours: 4.9 ng/mL; 24-48 hours, 5.8 ng/mL, and 48-72 hours, 4.5 ng/mL).
conclusionsA procalcitonin value<2 ng/mL may indicate the absence of infection and poor outcome after cardiac surgery. The evolution of the values of this biomarker might help to discern between infection (where procalcitonin will decrease) and poor outcome (where procalcitonin will not decrease).
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