الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Neonatal sepsis is a clinical syndrome of systemic illness accompanied by bacteremia occurring in the first month of life. It is divided according to time of occurrence into two types early-onset sepsis (EOS), diagnosed ≤ 72 hours after birth and late-onset sepsis (LOS), diagnosed >72 hours after birth. Pancreatic stone protein (PSP) is a secretory protein produced predominantly in the pancreas and the gut. There is evidence from experimental and clinical trials that the levels of PSP in the blood increase in the presence of inflammation or infection. The aim of our work was to study the relation of serum pancreatic stone protein and late-onset neonatal sepsis and its correlation with different clinical and laboratory data. The study was conducted upon 80 neonates who were grouped as following: group A (Definite Sepsis): included 30 neonates with clinical signs of sepsis and positive blood culture, group B (Probable Sepsis): included 30 neonates with clinical signs of sepsis, two screening parameters positive and blood culture sterile, and group C (Control Group): included 20 apparently healthy neonates, gestational and postnatal ages and sex matched with the previous two groups. We found that the definite sepsis group had significantly higher hematological score, CRP and PSP than the other two groups. The probable sepsis group had significantly higher hematological score, CRP and PSP than controls. The PSP had significant associations with clinical score, hematological score and CRP. In our study, the PSP at cut-off value of ≥ 27.5 ng/ml had a specificity and PPV of 100% and had also the highest sensitivity (98.3%) and NPV (95.2%) among the other parameters. In conclusion, the present study has shown that the levels of PSP in the blood increase in presence of sepsis and it was more specific and more sensitive than CRP in diagnosing late onset neonatal sepsis. |