Procalcitonin kinetics after burn injury and burn surgery in septic and non-septic patients - a retrospective observational study

Abstract

Early sepsis diagnosis is crucial for the correct management of burn patients, and it clearly influences outcomes. The systemic inflammatory response triggered by burns mimics sepsis presentation and complicates early sepsis diagnosis. Biomarkers were advocated to aid the diagnosis of early sepsis. Serum procalcitonin (PCT) exhibits fair accuracy and good correlation with sepsis severity, being used in diverse clinical settings. However, few studies have evaluated perioperative changes in PCT levels in burn patients. The present study evaluated PCT kinetics during the first days after burn injury and subsequent surgical interventions to assess PCT utility in distinguishing septic from non-septic inflammatory responses.