Contribution of Presepsin, Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein to the SOFA Score in Early Sepsis Diagnosis in Emergency Abdominal Surgical Patients

Purpose: This study examined whether the addition of biomarkers presepsin (PSEP), procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) to the initial SOFA (iSOFA) score can improve diagnostic accuracy of early sepsis diagnosis in emergency abdominal surgery patients. Materials and Methods: Seventy-two study subjects had diagnosis of acute abdomen due to gastrointestinal disturbances. The study evaluated diagnostic accuracy and predictive value of two models (iSOFA only and iSOFA combined with three bio-markers) for sepsis diagnosis. Results: The AUC value for the iSOFA was highest, followed by the AUC value obtained for PSEP, PCT and CRP (0.989, 0.738, 0.694 and 0.606, respectively).The logistic regression analysis of the two models showed for the first model that patients with a higher iSOFA score are almost two times more likely to suffer from sepsis. In the second model, patients with a higher iSOFA score and a higher level of biomarkers are three times more likely to have sepsis. Conclusions: Although the SOFA score is known to be the best diagnostic tool for sepsis diagnosis, it seems that among the three investigated markers PSEP and PCT-although not contributing to the iSOFA score- are good independent markers with significantly higher levels in septic than in non-septic patients. PSEP has the highest diagnostic accuracy for sepsis. Only the conventional marker CRP provides certain added value to the iSOFA score for sepsis prediction. Further investigations should be performed to study the possible diagnostic value of dynamic changes of the three examined markers in prediction and early diagnosis of sepsis.