The correlation between presepsin levels with CRP and procalcitonin levels in febrile neutropenic patients

Febrile neutropenia is the most common complication of cancer chemotherapy and needs to be treated urgently. After diagnosing a patient with febrile neutropenia, the cultures should be obtained and broad spectrum antibiotherapy should be started as soon as possible. Yet, bacterial infections are not the only causes of fever in neutropenic patients; chemotherapeutics, the disease itself, viral and fungal agents can be the cause of fever as well. Many biomarkers are being studied to differentiate the cause of fever. Presepsin is a newly defined biomarker, which shows increased levels during bacterial infections. In this study, presepsin levels of febrile neutropenic patients were compared to CRP and procalcitonin levels before antibiotherapy. 24 patients, with totaly 29 febrile neutropenic episodes; one of them with 3 febrile neutropenic episodes, 3 of them with 2 febrile neutropenic episodes were attended to our clinic within the time the study took place. Presepsin levels were also compared with culture results. As a result, it was shown that presepsin, CRP and procalcitonin are uncorrelated variables yet presepsin was found to be an indicator of bacterial growth in hemoculture.