COMPARISON OF PRESEPSIN, PROCALCITONIN, INTERLEUKIN-8 AND C-REACTIVE PROTEIN IN PREDICTING BACTERAEMIA IN FEBRILE NEUTROPENIC ADULT PATIENTS WITH HAEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES

Abstract

Bacterial infections represent life-threatening complications in patients with febrile neutropenia (FN). Biomarkers of infections may help to differentiate bacteraemia from non-bacteraemia FN. We aimed to evaluate the utility of procalcitonin (PCT), presepsin (PS), C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) as biomarkers of bacteraemia in adult FN patients with haematological malignancies. Thirty-six FN episodes experienced by 28 oncohematological patients were considered. 11 out of 36 episodes were classified as bacteraemia. PCT was the best biomarker to predict bacteraemia with area under the curve (AUC) ROC of 0,9; while the most sensitive was IL-8 (90,9%) with AUC ROC of 0,88. All patients with PCT concentrations above 1,6 μg/l had bacteraemia. Patients with IL-8 concentrations > 170 pg/ml or PS concentrations superior then 410 pg/ml had 40 times and 24 times higher risk for bacteraemia, respectively. PCT remains better than IL-8 and PS in predicting bacteraemia in adult hematological patients with FN.