Presepsin is a biomarker that can predict mortality in sepsis patients

OBJECTIVE

Predicting the prognosis of sepsis, a major health problem worldwide, is vital to guide the treatment process accordingly. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of presepsin levels to predict mortality in patients with sepsis.

METHODS

The study included 87 intensive care unit patients with sepsis, 30 of whom survived. Complete blood count, blood gas, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, albumin, and presepsin levels were analyzed. Binary logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses were performed for presepsin levels.

RESULTS

Presepsin levels were higher in non-survivors than in survivors. There was no significant difference in other laboratory parameters. The predictive value of presepsin level on mortality was found to be 78.20%. The cutoff value in the receiver operating characteristic curve graph for presepsin levels is 612.70 pg/mL. The positive predictive value of presepsin levels in terms of mortality is 0.5735, and the negative predictive value is 0.8512. The sensitivity of presepsin levels in terms of mortality is 73.70%, and the specificity is 73.30%. The area under the curve value in the receiver operating characteristic curve plot for mortality for presepsin levels is 0.819.

CONCLUSION

Presepsin levels may predict mortality in patients with sepsis. Presepsin levels above the cutoff value of 612.70 pg/mL may be considered a risk factor for mortality in patients with sepsis.

Biomarkers Affecting Treatment Outcomes of Febrile Neutropenia in Hematological Patients with Lymphomas: Is Presepsin the New Promising Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker?

Background/Objectives: In hematological patients receiving treatment for lymphomas, febrile neutropenia (FN) is a serious complication associated with significant morbidity and mortality. This prospective study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of the novel biomarker presepsin (PSP) in episodes of FN in this specific cohort of patients. Methods: The study enrolled 37 patients with FN and 18 patients with neutropenia without fever as a control group. Patients with FN were divided into two groups: those with confirmed infections and those without them. Various clinical and laboratory parameters were analyzed, including inflammatory and biochemical markers, focusing on implications of PSP. Results: Among patients with FN, 65% had proven infections with significantly higher PSP levels compared to those without infections and control group (p < 0.001). Positive blood cultures were found in 13.5% of all FN episodes. PSP showed greater sensitivity than traditional biomarkers like procalcitonin and C-reactive protein for differentiating septic from non-septic complications. Increased PSP levels at admission suggested a poorer survival prognosis. Each 1 ng/mL increase in PSP correlated with a 5% increase in mortality risk (HR 1.05; p < 0.001), with a one-year mortality rate of 56.7%, underscoring the necessity for better predictive markers. Other markers, including CRP, PCT, IgG, and albumin, were not significantly associated with mortality; however, platelets and qSOFA exhibited borderline significance. Conclusions: PSP is a valuable biomarker for identifying high-risk FN in lymphoma patients and predicting mortality, correlating with infection severity. Larger multi-center studies are needed to validate these findings and optimize PSP's clinical application to improve outcomes.

[Cardiac biomarkers prior to noncardiac surgery]

BACKGROUND

Cardiac biomarkers, such as high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) or N‑terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are measured perioperatively to improve the prognosis and risk prediction. The European Society of Cardiology (ESC), European Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) and the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) have recently published guidelines on the use of cardiac biomarkers prior to surgery.

OBJECTIVE/RESEARCH QUESTION

This article provides an overview of the available evidence on perioperative troponin and BNP/NT-proBNP measurements. Current guideline recommendations are presented and discussed.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

MEDLINE, Cochrane and google.scholar were searched for relevant keywords. Titles and abstracts of identified papers were checked for relevance and published results were summarized. Guideline recommendations from the ESC, ESAIC and DGAI are presented, compared and evaluated based on the available literature. In addition, the significance of new perioperative cardiac biomarkers is discussed based on the existing evidence.

RESULTS

The definitions, diagnosis and management of cardiovascular events in the perioperative context differ from those in the nonsurgical setting. The evidence for the measurement of hs-cTn and BNP/NT-proBNP is evaluated differently in the guidelines and the resulting recommendations are partly contradictory. In particular, recommendations for changes in perioperative management based on biomarker measurements diverge. The ESC guidelines propose an algorithm that uses preoperative biomarkers as the basis for additional cardiac investigations. In particular, invasive coronary angiography is recommended for patients with stable chronic coronary syndrome who have no preoperative cardiac symptoms but elevated biomarkers. In contrast, the ESAIC guidelines emphasize that the available evidence is not sufficient to use perioperative biomarker measurements as a basis for a change in perioperative management.

DISCUSSION

Treating physicians should coordinate interdisciplinary (surgery, anesthesiology, cardiology) recommendations for clinical practice based on the aforementioned guidelines. If cardiac biomarkers are routinely determined in high-risk patients, this should be done in accordance with the ESC algorithm.

Does remote ischemic preconditioning affect the systemic inflammatory response by modulating presepsin levels?

OBJECTIVE

We investigated the effect of Remote Ischemic Preconditioning (RIPC) on the inflammatory response during CPB by means of serum presepsin levels at preoperative and postoperative 1st and 24th h.

METHODS

In this prospective, randomized, cross-sectional study we included 81 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Patients were randomized and RIPC was applied to 40 patients in the study group before anesthesia. The remaining 41 patients were determined as the control group. The relationships between RIPC and factors such as presepsin, C-reactive protein (CRP), and leukocyte levels were investigated.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference between the groups in postoperative leukocyte and CRP values (p = 0.52, p = 0.13, respectively). When the preoperative and postoperative first hour presepsin values of the patients were compared, no significant difference was found in the control group (p = 0.17), but a significant difference was found in the study group (p < 0.05). When the presepsin values were compared between the groups, a significant difference was found only in the postoperative first hour value (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

It was observed that RIPC application caused to increase the presepsin levels in the postoperative first hour significantly in the study group (p < 0.05).

Presepsin as a promising biomarker for early detection of post-operative infection in children

Background

Post-operative systemic inflammation response syndrome (SIRS) is an event that results from surgical trauma, white blood cells contact activation, and intra-surgical bacterial translocation, which is difficult to distinguish from sepsis. Presepsin is a novel biomarker that is increased since the early stages of bacterial infection and can be used to confirm the diagnosis of post-operative infectious complications. This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic performance of presepsin for post-operative infectious complications compared to other well-known biomarkers.

Method

This cross-sectional study included 100 post-operative patients admitted to Cipto Mangunkusumo National Hospital and Bunda Hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia. The objective was to identify the optimal cutoff and trend of plasma presepsin concentration on the first and third day after surgery and to compare them with other biomarkers.

Result

Plasma presepsin level was higher in the infection group compared to the non-infection group (median 806.5 pg/ml vs. 717 pg/ml and 980 pg/ml vs. 516 pg/ml on the first and third day, respectively). Presepsin levels tended to increase on the third post-operative day (median + 252 pg/ml) in children with infection. The opposite trend was observed in the non-infection group from the first to the third day (median -222.5 pg/ml). Presepsin delta, a three-day difference between the first and third post-operative day, had the best diagnostic performance compared to other biomarkers (Area Under the Curve 0.825). The optimal cutoff for presepsin delta to diagnose post-operative infection was +90.5 pg/ml.

Conclusion

Serial assessments of presepsin levels on the first and third days post-surgery and their trends are helpful diagnostic markers for clinicians to detect post-operative infectious complications in children.

Presepsin vs Procalcitonin as Predictors of Sepsis Outcome

BACKGROUND

Sepsis diagnosis and management is aided by the use of newer biomarkers like procalcitonin and presepsin. For prognostication, presepsin may be better than procalcitonin.

METHODOLOGY

Ninety-two participants, suspected to be suffering from sepsis of varied etiologies were included in this study at the time of their presentation to the emergency health services. Presepsin and procalcitonin were estimated and the patient followed up till discharge or death. Receiver operating curve (ROC) curves, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratios were calculated. Association between these markers and mortality was estimated.

RESULTS

Out of 92 participants enrolled on day 1, 73 survived till day 3. Patients who had thrombocytopenia, high neutrophil counts, and elevated levels of bilirubin, urea, presepsin, and procalcitonin were associated with poor outcomes. Presepsin and procalcitonin levels increased significantly from day 0 to day 3 in the nonsurvivor group as compared to the survivor group. On comparing the ROC curve of presepsin and procalcitonin, the area under the curve (AUC) of presepsin was more than procalcitonin, signifying that it was a better biomarker of mortality due to sepsis. At a cutoff value of 1.47 ng/dL, presepsin was a predictor of mortality in sepsis [odds ratio (OR) = 14]. It had similar sensitivity but better specificity than procalcitonin in predicting mortality.

The Emerging Role of Presepsin (P-SEP) in the Diagnosis of Sepsis in the Critically Ill Infant: A Literature Review

Sepsis causes high rates of morbidity and mortality in NICUs. The estimated incidence varies between 5 and 170 per 1000 births, depending on the social context. In very low birth-weight neonates, the level of mortality increases with the duration of hospitalization, reaching 36% among infants aged 8-14 days and 52% among infants aged 15-28 days. Early diagnosis is the only tool to improve the poor prognosis of neonatal sepsis. Blood culture, the gold standard for diagnosis, is time-consuming and poorly sensitive. C-reactive protein and procalcitonin, currently used as sepsis biomarkers, are influenced by several maternal and fetal pro-inflammatory conditions in the perinatal age. Presepsin is the N-terminal fragment of soluble CD14 subtype (sCD14-ST): it is released in the bloodstream by monocytes and macrophages, in response to bacterial invasion. Presepsin seems to be a new, promising biomarker for the early diagnosis of sepsis in neonates as it is not modified by perinatal confounding inflammatory factors. The aim of the present review is to collect current knowledge about the role of presepsin in critically ill neonates.

Evaluation of the Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of CSF Presepsin Levels in Patients with Postneurosurgical Ventriculitis/Meningitis

Aim

To evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of CSF presepsin levels in patients with postneurosurgical ventriculitis/meningitis (PNVM).

Methods

We conducted a case-control study to achieve our aims. First, we prospectively enrolled patients who had undergone neurosurgery in Beijing Tiantan Hospital from June to November 2020 and measured the CSF levels of 8 biomarkers, including presepsin and other meningitis biomarkers. The diagnostic and prognostic accuracies of presepsin levels were evaluated by determining the values for the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

Results

Two hundred thirty-nine patients were enrolled in this study; 34 were diagnosed with confirmed ventriculitis/meningitis (cVM), 138 were classified as probable ventriculitis/meningitis (pVM), and the others were rejected ventriculitis/meningitis (rVM). Presepsin levels effectively diagnose cVM and predict the outcomes of patients with PNVM, with thresholds of 1257.4 pg/mL and 1276.2 pg/mL and AUCs of 0.746 and 0.825, respectively. Furthermore, a joint analysis with CSF lactate (C-Lac) levels shows that the AUCs of the two markers increased to 0.856 and 0.872, respectively.

Conclusion

The rapid diagnosis and prediction of the clinical outcome is important in neurosurgery. CSF presepsin levels are an impressive diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for meningitis, and when combined with C-Lac, they indeed improve the diagnostic and predictive efficiency of PNVM.